FFF: Noël Le Graët ousted as president, put in charge of Africa at FIFA
Having resigned as president of the French Football Federation, Noël Le Graët will oversee the development of African football
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Noël Le Graët's fall was swift and dizzying, coming after his remarks about Zinedine Zidane sparked a wave of outrage that spread well beyond France, but his landing has been a soft one. While many expected the Breton to be toppled from his pedestal after his resignation as president of the French Football Federation, on Tuesday at the end of the federation's executive committee meeting, the former president of En Avant Guingamp will remain in the football world. After 12 years at the helm of French football, he is now set to take up a role at FIFA.
Just after his resignation was confirmed at the close of the FFF executive committee, the news broke: Noël Le Graët is to become head of FIFA's Paris-based office, with the development of African football as his main brief. "I'm going to be Infantino's right-hand man in Paris. I should have my travel expenses covered. I'm not a salaried employee on a contract. My mission has no fixed term. If I don't like it, I can stop within three months, " he said in an interview with Le Monde. "I saw Gianni yesterday (Monday, editor's note) in Paris and he is entrusting me with the responsibility. I am committed to the development of football in Africa."
Audit within the FFF still ongoing
In short, even before his resignation was official and made public, the 81-year-old had already found a new berth. And what better berth than the African continent? Enjoying a close relationship with Gianni Infantino, he will now set about developing the game on a continent where the FIFA president has already placed all his former Zurich colleagues in key positions. Fatma Samoura and Veron Mosengo-Omba, now general secretary of the Confederation of African Football, are the most striking examples.
Under fire, Noël Le Graët will therefore take charge of the office opened in 2021 by the Italian-Swiss FIFA president, one of whose tasks is to serve as an operations base for football development activities, notably through the well-known FIFA Forward programme from which African federations benefit. Until then, he remains the subject of an audit by the French Football Federation, commissioned at the request of the Sports Ministry, whose damning initial findings have brought to light "inappropriate behaviour towards women" and "a very centralised exercise of power".