The coach of the French team was heard by a commission of inquiry of the National Assembly on Thursday, aimed at identifying operational failures in sports federations.
Words weighed to the nearest gram, a structured speech. Heard by a commission of inquiry of the National Assembly, Thursday November 2, Didier Deschamps answered questions in the same way in which he manages his press conferences. As during these major oral presentations, he was also assisted by his communications director, Raphaël Raymond, as usual to his right. The coach of the French team was heard to discuss the dysfunctions of the French Football Federation revealed in September 2022.
Before even answering the president’s questions, the latter minimized the relevance of his testimony to evoke “failing federal governance” noted by the IGESR report in February 2022, commissioned by the Ministry of Sports. “I often have to be in Clairefontaine, in a very special place, the castle, which is completely isolated from the administrative buildings. Between training periods, my activity as a coach is essentially centralized on monitoring my players through their club matches (…). I am an employee of the FFF but I am neither daily nor regularly at the FFF headquarters. I only come there occasionally, when I have lists of players to communicate or when I am requested by my president.insisted Didier Deschamps.
Neither ex-president Noël Le Graët nor ex-director general Florence Hardouin have been charged. Concerning the sanctions to be put in place in the event of excesses during football matches, like the incidents at OM-OL, “DD” did not get wet either: “I can give you an opinion, but if I give it to you, it is not that of citizen Deschamps, but of the coach of the France team. Is it my role to give an opinion there- on it? I don’t think so.”. He repeated several times that he did not have the skills to answer the questions asked by the commission.
He felt “abandoned” in the face of the rainbow armband controversy
For a little less than an hour and a half, the Blues coach took very great precautions. He was as closed off as when journalists try to pick up clues for his next team composition. Acts of racism? “Personally, I have not been confronted or witnessed this type of scene”. Sexual or sexist violence at the FFF? “No. I was informed of certain actions which allegedly took place on certain dates in Clairefontaine or elsewhere. I only became aware of it at that time”.
The only subject that brought Didier Deschamps out of his reserve was the controversy surrounding the wearing of the rainbow armband during the last World Cup in Qatar. “We were abandoned before this World Cup because the responsibility belongs to the authorities, and therefore it was everyone’s free decision”, supported Didier Deschamps. As a reminder, the French selection had kicked in during the entire World Cup, dodging the sending of a signal against homophobia, in a country where homosexuality, like sexual relations outside marriage, are criminalized.
Several questions asked to the coach during his hearing went beyond the strict framework of the dysfunctions of the French Football Federation. For example, he was questioned about his relationship with Karim Benzema in the French team or even about facts that he observed during his playing career. To the point that certain questions from the president and the rapporteur gave the impression of attending a journalistic interview, the contours of which were even more blurred when she tried to obtain from Didier Deschamps “to invite everyone present to the next French team match”.