See you on April 3. Philippe Diallo, the president of the French Football Federation (FFF), will soon receive representatives of Ligue 1 teams to discuss with them the crisis facing French refereeing.
The latter will have to demonstrate diplomacy to clear up this burning issue. In a press release published Tuesday, 17 L1 clubs gave a layer. They wanted to react to the statements of the president of the FFF made in Lyon, just after the meeting of the French team lost to Germany (2-0) on Saturday.
Mr. Diallo expressed his confidence in Antony Gautier, the boss of French referees, whose 17 L1 clubs had requested the departure in an open letter on March 22. The boss of the “3F” also called for “appeasement” and recalled that his body had jurisdiction over arbitration and “guaranteed its independence”, insisting on the impossible “interference” of professional clubs on these questions.
The clubs “strongly refute the accusation of interference in refereeing”
In their press release on Tuesday, these same 17 clubs “firmly refute the accusation of interference in arbitration”, reaffirm their “legitimate” questioning for months and in a manner completely unrelated to governance issues, on the arbitration authorities », and finally welcome an awareness, Philippe Diallo having “agreed to grant Ligue 1 clubs a meeting”.
To summarize, they want to have a say, with the 17 million euros they pay into the arbitration budget. The Racing Club de Strasbourg is the only one absent. A logical choice, the Alsatian club being chaired by Marc Keller, member of the FFF executive committee.
This exchange of arms comes at a time when French refereeing is going through a very serious crisis, between controversies over the decisions of officials, use of VAR and ego struggles. This situation led to the dismissal by the FFF of Stéphane Lannoy, technical director of refereeing delegated to the professional sector, reputed to be close to the leaders of the professional clubs but contested by some of the referees and at odds with Antony Gautier.
Until the end of the season, Antony Gautier will act as interim manager, holding three hats, that of boss of French referees, that of manager of professional referees and that of manager of VAR.
