a crisis that does not date from yesterday

Published on : 27/02/2023 – 18:23

Imagine Kylian Mbappé, Raphaël Varane and Antoine Griezmann slamming the door of the Blues just a few months before a World Cup. This is the extent of the shock wave affecting French women’s football with the successive withdrawals of captain Wendie Renard (142 selections), Kadidiatou Diani (80) and Marie-Antoinette Katoto (34) quickly followed by Perle Morroni (11), against a backdrop of open conflict with management.

It was the tricolor captain in person, Wendie Renard, emblematic player of Olympique Lyonnais (15 French championships), who launched the charge on Friday February 24, announcing that she wanted to take a step back and no longer “endorse the current system. ” in a statement on Twitter.

Shortly after, she was joined in this process by two of her teammates at Les Bleues, Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto who said they would not return to the selection until “the necessary changes are not applied”.

Strong gestures which reflect the frustration of the players vis-à-vis the management methods of coach Corinne Deacon.

The Deacon method in question

Corinne Deacon arrived at the head of Les Bleues in August 2017 after three seasons as coach of the Clermont Football Club, crowned with the status of the first woman to lead a professional men’s club. The French Football Federation (FFF) then told her two objectives after her appointment: to appear well at the 2019 Women’s World Cup at home and at the 2022 Women’s Euro.

From the start, the methods of Corinne Deacon tense the players. His brittle management, which creates a deleterious atmosphere in Clairefontaine, is quickly criticized. Among the decisions that do not pass internally: the withdrawal on his arrival of the captain’s armband from Wendie Renard who has worn it since 2013 in favor of Amandine Henry. The same Amandine Henry whom she dismisses from the group in 2020 after she complained – already – about the negative atmosphere in the group with the president of the FFF, Noël Le Graët. The coach experienced this as a betrayal while the player says she did it for the good of the group in the face of the impossibility of dialogue with the coach.

At the same time, the results are not there. France is eliminated in the quarter-finals of its World Cup by the United States – future winners – leaving a taste of unfinished business in view of the enthusiasm born at the start of the competition. At the Euro, the Blues were eliminated by Germany at the end of the first semi-final in their history, always with the same impression of unfinished business. For women’s football fans, the feeling of waste is immense in view of the talent of the Blue group, most of whose players play in the biggest European clubs.

Corinne Deacon struggles to find the right formula. Five months before the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the game plan is not clear, no typical team emerges and above all the disappointing results do not plead for Corinne Deacon. The third edition of the French tournament which has just ended has hardly reassured observers and has confirmed a certain lack of interest in the national team since the end of the World Cup in France, since the results have not been known. keep the flame going. The criticisms are also technical: some players criticize the content of the training sessions; not “at the level” of what the international level requires.

End of reign at the FFF

The stars of the France team did not choose this timing by chance. The fragility of Noël Le Graët allowed the freedom of speech in the face of the fed up of the players. The president of the federation was dismissed from the head of the body following an investigation for moral and sexual harassment. The report of the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) deemed “the excesses of behavior” of Noël Le Graët “incompatible” with his function. And his future must be decided on February 28.

However, the reaction of the FFF also reflects a profound shift in relation to the situation. Following the withdrawal of the first three players, the “3F” indicated on Friday February 24 that it will examine the question during its executive committee on February 28 while specifying that “no individuality is above the French national team institution”. Can you imagine the highest authority in French football leaving quietly for the weekend if a similar fire had broken out for the men’s team?

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Talking about “individuality” may also seem inappropriate, insofar as Wendie Renard has never hidden her love for the blue jersey: even when the armband was taken away from her without any explanation, she remained exemplary. The reactions of other players – French and foreign – on social networks prove that it is not a fad or a coup of the “gang des lyonnaises”, an expression which resurfaces episodically to designate the influence of the players of OL, the biggest French and European club, on the France team.

The French are not the only ones in recent years to mobilize to try to make things happen. Ada Hegerberg, the first Women’s Golden Ball, withdrew from her selection in 2017 calling for reforms within the Norwegian selection, in particular regarding gender inequalities in the bonuses paid. The players of Canada, like those of Spain, have also recently sounded the alarm bell to demand more financial means and better conditions of sports and medical supervision.