“There are things to settle. We all agree on that. And believe me, we will settle them”, said Saturday, October 15 on franceinfo Jamel Sandjak, president of the Ligue de Paris Île-de-France and member of the executive committee of the French Football Federation. An audit is underway to shed light on the sexist climate that reigns at the FFF and on the behavior of its president, Noël Le Graët. The latter once again created controversy in the program Complément d’Enquête broadcast on France 2. Asked about the World Cup in Qatar, he seemed to trivialize the dilapidation of the rooms of the employees of the Hôtel des Bleus: “It’s just a lick of paint!”, he replied.
Jamel Sandjak does not deny the difficulties of the moment within the FFF: “On the executive committee, you have 14 members who each have their brains” and “when we meet to exchange not everyone agrees”he said.
>> How the FFF looked away from the human rights field in Qatar
franceinfo: How do you react to the words of Noël Le Graët?
Jamel Sandjak: I do not know. I learned that this morning. We received an email from the president to express his regrets for the way this was approached. He asked for the entire video of his interview. I don’t know if it was a montage that actually made it possible to bring out this sentence or its remarks. We have never met so much to discuss together at the level of the executive committee. On the executive committee, you have 14 members who each have their brains. Everyone has their experience and everyone an analysis of the situation. When we meet to exchange not everyone agrees. Everyone expresses their position.
Are you well aware that there is a social rights problem in Qatar?
Of course. We were not world handball champions not long ago in Qatar [2015] ? I never heard anything. Why do we use football to convey a certain number of messages whose meaning I obviously understand? I also understand the concerns of our fellow citizens. But why now? I don’t understand. I know the history of France, especially in social struggles. I understand our sensitivity in this area. There have also been quite a few facilities over the past ten years that have been built in Qatar. Why soccer? In 40 days, we have a World Cup. You know the impact for our hundreds of thousands of young people, the impact of our French team at the social and economic level, in terms of fraternity, in terms of recognition, in terms of modelling. Do we realize all this? We have a World Cup. We want to play it. We are giving Didier Deschamps and our team as many chances as possible. There are things to settle. We all agree on that. And believe me, we will fix them.
Is Noël Le Graet weakened?
The situation today is complex. A certain number of somewhat serious journalists have shown it. There are several issues that we need to address. This is not just the concern of the president of the Federation. We have a concern for management. It was revealed by investigations. We work in a rather particular framework since we have a World Cup. If it had been outside the World Cup things might have been simpler, I think. Today, we are in a situation where we must effectively take into account both this situation and the malfunctions that you have been able to reveal.