The president of the French Football Federation, cornered by the sexual harassment scandal, has resigned

After months surrounded by accusations of sexual and psychological harassment, among other scandals, Noel Le Graet resigned as president of the French Football Federation on Tuesday (FEF). The 81-year-old president publicly announced his resignation during an extraordinary executive meeting held in Paris, although in reality he had been removed from office since January 11.

His resignation comes 13 days after the publication of a government inquiry which concluded that Le Graet’s “inappropriate behavior towards women was incompatible with the exercise of his duties and the requirement of exemplarity associated with his position”. It specifically referred to “ambiguous text messages to some and clearly sexual in nature to others,” and called on federal authorities to investigate the situation.

It should be recalled that the magazine in September 2022 So, the foot published excerpts from SMS messages of a sexual nature that the Breton leader sent to current or former associates of the federation. Le Graet denied everything, and the FFF sued the magazine for defamation. However, the Minister of Sports took a hostile stance and invited the President for an interview. As a result of this meeting, the Ministry of Sports invited the FFF to open an internal file. In October, the station Radio France issued new testimonies of former employees of the Alliance, who insisted on this way of behavior of the leader. The head of French football again “absolutely denied” these facts, condemning the statements as “false and malicious”.

The last ordeal, now less gruesome, but very controversial, happened on the occasion of the harsh statements he made against Zinedine Zidane, in which he assured that he did not care if the former coach of Real Madrid signed with the national team or not. from Brazil. He also stated Le Graet that “I wouldn’t have picked up the phone” if I had received a call from Zizou to discuss his future as France coach. “Create a special program for him to find a club or selection,” he concluded in that interview.

On January 11, he was removed from the presidency by the executive committee of the FFF, and five days later The Paris prosecutor’s office launched an investigation against him for alleged moral and sexual harassment after the testimony of soccer agent Sonia Souid. The investigation’s final report, published on February 15, is devastating, concluding that the leader “no longer has the necessary legitimacy to manage and represent French football”.

Finally, Le Graet resigned and the Federation lamented the “disproportionate vilification of the institution” as a result of the investigations. He leaves office after a long term in which he won the World Cup, the one in 2018, and the League of Nations, the one in 2021, with a victory against the Spanish national team in the final. Philippe Diallo, 59, the current vice president, will be tasked with taking over as interim until elections in June. It should be recalled that Didier Deschamps signed a contract extension with Les Bleus during the period of Le Graet and this cannot be invoked when it is ratified by the French council held in January. Therefore, the option of Zidane coaching the French team will have to wait at least until 2026.