In Nice, it’s not just the hot weather that was expected. All the gratin of French football was gathered, Saturday, June 18, in the city of the Riviera for the general assembly of the French Football Federation (FFF). On the menu: several hours of discussion on the state of French football, a few months from the World Cup in Qatar (November 21 to December 18), a few days from the start of the Women’s Euro (July 6 to 31 in England) but, above all, after a Ligue 1 2021-2022 season which was the scene of numerous incidents in the stands.
Vincent Labrune wants to “get criminals out of stadiums”
It is this last theme that the president of the Professional Football League (LFP), Vincent Labrune, wanted to bring to the representatives of the FFF. “We have to change gear to respond more strongly. We will take our responsibility, the clubs must also take theirs and be aware that they must help us, as well as the public authorities” because “the League has no police power”he added.
“It bothers me to hear the ANS (National Supporters Association) say that there are good and bad supporters, good and bad ultras”he continued. “Words are important. There are supporters and criminals. We need to get the criminals out of the stadiums.” Vincent Labrune thus spoke of the incidents during the return match of the accession play-off between Saint-Étienne and Auxerre at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, where smoke bombs were fired horizontally towards a grandstand. “I was scared by what happened, he said. It’s a miracle there was no death. I don’t want to experience a death in a stadium as president.”
⚽️ REPORT. Saint-Etienne in Ligue 2: the story of an evening of chaos at Geoffroy-Guichardhttps://t.co/0j6uCxUS23
— francetvsport (@francetvsport) May 30, 2022
During his closing press conference, Noël Le Graët, the president of the FFF, went in the same direction. “We have regular meetings together, indicated the former president of the LFP. We will try to find strong arguments so that it does not happen again. We tried everything: closing the stands, suspending the club, deducting points. We still have to be more vigilant, but our disciplinary arsenal is sufficient.”
Noël Le Graët aims for the semi-finals of the World Cup
The general assembly of the FFF was also the occasion to adopt the provisional budget for the next season, and to plan the receipts of the next big events of the teams of France, in particular next winter in Qatar during the World Cup.
Thus, the quarter-finals were budgeted for the Blues but Noël Le Graët explained “wish we were in the four” semi-finalists. “It is valid for girls (at the Euro in July) as for boys”he specified.
The FFF Summer Assembly met in Nice. The 2022-2023 provisional budget and the reforms of the national senior men’s and women’s championships have in particular been adopted ↴ https://t.co/C7RxGUdq2l
—FFF (@FFF) June 18, 2022
The president has also confirmed that he will meet coach Didier Deschamps at Guingamp in July, but not to discuss an extension of his contract, which ends at the end of the World Cup in Qatar.
Unchanged image rights for the Blues
At the same time, the president of the FFF indicated that he had met Kylian Mbappé and that there would be no “no change” on the image rights of the players of the French team before the World Cup.
“The situation has calmed down”said Noël Le Graët at a press conference. “I saw Mbappé alone. Then Mbappé at Clairefontaine, within a group with which I discussed. Then afterwards, I saw all the players. The conclusion is that there is no There is no change. Until the World Cup at least. There will be perfect equality between all the players.”
France team: Noël Le Graët will bring together Kylian Mbappé and the Blues to discuss image rightshttps://t.co/q24ggM72C5 pic.twitter.com/ANSvy1J9VE
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) May 25, 2022
The PSG striker is part of the delegation of Blues who hopes to see the agreement governing the exploitation of image rights of international tricolors evolve. The differences between the FFF and the Parisian striker and his entourage on the subject had led to a few media firefights since March.