The audit commissioned by the Ministry of Sports on the management of the French Football Federation and the accusations around Noël Le Graët will be delivered this Monday, January 30 to those concerned. Here’s everything you need to know.
After three and a half months of investigation, the audit mission on the French Football Federation is entering its final phase with, from this Monday, the possibility for Noel Le Graet and Florence Hardouin to respond to the accusations made against them.
When did the audit start?
This audit started more than four months ago. It was a “mission of the General Inspectorate […] of audit and control over the management of the French Football Federation and compliance with the obligations attached to it”. Three inspectors multiplied the hearings, internal and external, on the federal management to track down the personal drifts and the dysfunctions of the authority.
Who will receive this first version?
The inspectors will send the first written version to the FFF. But they will not address all of their work to the Federation. The president of the FFF and its director general, both sidelined on January 11, will be able to read the extracts from the pre-report charging them and respond to them. They will be the only ones to have access to the parts concerning them. In the same way, Philippe Diallo, acting president, will be able to make observations after reading the passages relating to dysfunctions.
What will happen next?
The three will have to explain the criticisms that will be made and respond in writing within ten days.
Will Noël Le Graët resign?
According to an internal source, the Breton leader, currently in withdrawal, assured that he would resign in the event of a negative report about him. In this hypothesis, Diallo would retain the bar of the FFF at least until the Federal Assembly in June.
Why did this audit take place?
For several months, Noël Le Graët, president since 2011, has chained journalistic investigations against him, the testimonies of women accusing him of sexist and inappropriate behavior. Press elements which led the Ministry of Sports to announce on September 16 the opening of an audit and control mission “on the management of the Federation and the respect of the obligations attached to it”. This began a month later with the hearing of the main parties concerned.
