Can the withdrawal of Noël Le Graët after pressure from the public authorities make FIFA react?
Invited to react to the withdrawal of Noël Le Graët, Jean-Michel Aulas, member of the executive committee of the FFF who pronounced the dismissal of its president, acknowledged that the pressure of the government had been felt. “The image of football, the credibility at the level of the public authorities who have expressed themselves lately and for the leaders that we are at the level of the federation, there was also a situation that we could not assume”he thus entrusted to the microphone of France Info, adding: “We are in a federal world which does not really appreciate when the public authorities intervene in the management of football. »
FIFA is also particularly vigilant on the subject. Not long ago, the international body had thus put its nose in the affairs of Tunisia. “It has been brought to our attention that the state authorities seem to want to interfere in the affairs and management of the FTF, in particular by considering the dissolution of the federal office… The member associations of FIFA are statutorily obliged to manage their affairs of independently and without influence from third parties.she had written to the Tunisian Federation while the Minister of Youth and Sport Kamel Deguiche had threatened to change the leaders of the Tunisian Football Federation.
There is a real friendship between Gianni Infantino and Emmanuel Macron
And the international body did not hesitate, in the spring of 2021, to suspend the Chadian and Pakistani federations after interference from the local authorities. However, the problem was of a completely different magnitude. The Chadian government had thus decided to withdraw the delegation of powers to the FTFA, to establish a national committee responsible for temporarily managing Chadian football and to take possession of the premises of the FTFA. In Pakistan, it was the takeover of the headquarters of the PFF by a group of protesters that prompted FIFA to react.
Romain Molina, the source of sordid revelations about the FFF, does not believe in a FIFA sanction. The reason ? The closeness between Emmanuel Macron and Gianni Infantino. “On paper, there could be a sanction but there is a real friendship between Gianni Infantino and Emmanuel Macron. Part of the FIFA offices have been relocated to Paris. And the French state allowed FIFA to use the Hôtel de la Marine. Some former Macron collaborators have also joined FIFA. There is a close relationship between the two.he explained at the microphone of the RTS.
The situation could nevertheless change if Michel Platini, whose name is circulating insistently to take over from Noël Le Graët, actually arrives at the head of the FFF. “The key will be different if Michel Platini, who is a political will, joins the FFF. FIFA would speak because of the enmity between Platini and Gianni Infantino,” he analyzed.
