“We have to change everything in French football”, launches Eric Thomas, president of the French Amateur Football Association

“The departure of Noël Le Graët must not hide the successive and repeated failures of the French Football Federation, everything must change in French football”, said this Tuesday on franceinfo Eric Thomas, president of the French Amateur Football Association (Afa), after the resignation of the president of the FFF Noël Le Graët. When the FFF denounces “a disproportionate denigration of the body” in the audit, Eric Thomas sees a report “clear, balanced, proportionate” Who “points the finger at the president in his method and the instances”.

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According to him, the fact that all the other members of the FFF Executive Committee remain in place is a bad signal. “The system is hard-headed, it seeks to maintain itself”, denounces Eric Thomas, adding that this direction “privatizes French football for the exclusive benefit of professional football and to the detriment of amateur football”.

Eric Thomas does not rule out a candidacy for the presidency of the FFF

Eric Thomas is very critical of the results of Noël Le Graët. “When he arrived, there were 19,000 amateur clubs, when he left, there were 14,000”, he observes. “5,000 clubs have gone out of business, mainly in the rural world, without noise, without help, without knowing why”, he adds. He retains from this mandate “the death of amateur football”Who “has been neglected”. “Volunteer leaders have only duties, members of the Comex have all the rights”, attacks the president of Affa. He therefore calls for “a democratic revolution”. “I hope that, tomorrow, the presidents of amateur clubs will be able to vote, that they will become citizens of their sport”says Eric Thomas.

Currently, it is the league presidents, a kind of great voters, who can vote for the president of the FFF. A law of March 2022 provides that “the electoral base must be represented by at least 50% of amateur clubs” by January 1, 2024. “What are we waiting for ?”asks Eric Thomas, who does not rule out running again at the head of the body. “We ask that the presidents of amateur clubs represent 60% of the electoral base”, he adds again.