Will Noël Le Graët take down one last card by bowing out? The president of the French Football Federation (FFF), 81, is expected to announce his resignation on Tuesday, February 28, during the meeting of the executive committee (“comex”) of the body.
Withdrawn from the affairs of the FFF since January 11, “NLG” has resolved to return its apron, fifteen days after the delivery to the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, of a damning audit report from the General Inspectorate for Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) on its “very centralized exercise of power” and his ” inappropriate behavior towards women”.
Back to the wall, targeted since January 16 by a preliminary investigation by the Paris prosecutor’s office for moral and sexual harassment following a report issued to justice by the inspectors, the patriarch knows that his room for maneuver is reduced to nothing.
While he denies the allegations made against him, including those of his former general manager, Florence Hardouin, and players’ agent Sonia Souid, Mr. Le Graët could be subject to a procedure by the disciplinary committee of the FFF, seized by the National Council of Ethics, if by chance he did not resign on Tuesday.
Dropped by several elected officials, including the boss of the Amateur Football League, pressed by his family, the Breton leader will put an end to a reign of around twelve years at the top of the “3F”. His reign is marked by undeniable sporting and commercial successes, but undermined, since the coronation of the Blues at the 2018 World Cup, by a litany of scandals and a ” toxic relationship ” interviewed with the general manager, Florence Hardouin, as described by the IGESR.
“He doesn’t want to go alone”
For most federal elected officials, the resignation of “NLG” is acquired at « 99 % » before Tuesday’s meeting. “He must leave to avoid adding to the moral and image crisis that we are going through a political and institutional crisis which would only superinfect the wound”breathes a leader.
However, no scenario has been ruled out within the comex. Cold-blooded political animal, vexed by the defections in shambles and animated by a feeling of betrayal, Noël Le Graët could put in the balance the departure of several members of the government of the federation now considered as felons.
« He doesn’t want to go alone “, Insists a keen observer of the body while the director general Florence Hardouin, in office since 2013 and laid off as a precaution, is the subject of a dismissal procedure for serious misconduct.
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