Antony Gautier keeps his position as director of French refereeing until the end of the season

A lull in the storm. While French arbitration is going through an internal crisis which notably led to the dismissal of the head of professional arbitration Stéphane Lannoy, the technical director of arbitration Antony Gautier was finally reinforced in his role on Wednesday April 3, until the end of the season at least. This decision was taken during a crisis meeting organized in Paris, bringing together representatives of professional clubs and the president of the French Football Federation, Philippe Diallo.

This meeting follows in particular the publication of a press release by 17 Ligue 1 clubs, which requested on March 22 the departure of the technical director of refereeing. “We have shown, by accepting that Antony Gautier remains at the head of refereeing at least until the end of the season, that our grievances do not relate to people, but to a system which does not work”explains Jean-Pierre Caillot, president of Stade de Reims, spokesperson for one evening for all professional clubs.

Clubs demand in-depth reform

“It was a peaceful meeting. We were able to remind Philippe Diallo of our clear desire not to interfere with the arbitration world which must be independent, but of the need to very quickly reform a system which seems to us totally unsuitable” welcomed Jean-Pierre Caillot. The two-headed organization set up by the FFF and the CFA (federal arbitration commission) is notably targeted: “It is not necessary, for example, to add a pattern to the pattern”, asserts the president of Reims.

French refereeing is today headed by a technical director of refereeing (Antony Gautier) and a deputy technical director, responsible for professional refereeing (Stéphane Lannoy until his dismissal). Antony Gautier will have three roles until the end of the 2023-2024 financial year: boss of French referees, head of professional referees and manager of VAR.