This is a case that adds to the many controversies that have tainted French football in recent times. Between the trial of Benjamin Mendy in England and the case around the aggression of Kheira Hamraoui, the most popular sport on the planet took a big hit with the public. In addition to all these cases, an investigation by the magazine SoFoot released in early September focuses on the president of the French Football Federation (FFF), Noel Le Graet. Considered for many years as one of the most important men in French football, the 80-year-old Breton is accused by several anonymous testimonies of employees of the federation of inappropriate behavior.
According to the newspaper’s investigation, the latter would have sent sexual text messages to female employees of the FFF. The federation took a week to react before filing a complaint against SoFoot for defamation. Since then, the case had fallen a little, but the investigation cell of Radio France has just revealed new testimonials anonymous from three former collaborators. For these women, it’s about behavior “inappropriate”which may be similar to harassment. “With me, Noël Le Graët was really clumsy. He told me thathe wanted to take me home (…) They were repeated invitations to come and have dinner with him”says one of these women.
He harasses me by calling me almost every night to tell me that he is looking forward to going with me
Another of the collaborators evokes an official trip during which she had to reject the advances of Noël Le Graët on several occasions. “During the week before, he harassed me by calling me almost every evening to tell me that he was looking forward to going with me. He tells me that I have to put on a skirt the day of the trip”she says, before evoking the behavior that the president of the FFF would have had: “In the plane, I’m next to him, he puts his hand on my thigh. I pushed him away saying ‘president, we’re not going to start the journey like this.'”
Rather heavy testimonies against Noël Le Graët, already accused a few weeks ago of inappropriate behavior. For his part, the president of the FFF totally denies the accusations against him. “I strongly disagree the alleged inappropriate behavior towards employees within the FFF. I have always maintained respectful relationships with my colleagues in an atmosphere of mutual trust.”he assures.