FFF

French football federation boss slammed for sexual harassment and ‘behavioural excesses’

France

A report concluding a five-month administrative investigation into the management of the French Football Federation has found that its president, Noël Le Graët, repeatedly sent sexually explicit phone text messages to female staff, that his “offensive” comments “may be accentuated by the excessive consumption of alcohol,” and that he oversaw a “sexist and violent” atmosphere within the federation. Sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra has called on the 81-year-old to resign amid the latest of several scandals that have rocked the world of sport in France. Youmni Kezzouf reports. 

French football authorities fail to get onside to help young migrants integrate

France — Investigation

In the Paris region, western France and the French Alps, local initiatives are springing up to help young migrants, many of them unaccompanied minors, to get involved in football to help them integrate and find their feet in their new country. These projects are similar to a much-larger initiative that began in Germany in 2015 when that country took in nearly one million refugees. But as Mickaël Correia reports, the sport's ruling body in France - the French Football Federation - is doing nothing to help the process.

French Football Federation offices raided in Blatter-Platini probe

International — Link

French police searched the FFF's Paris HQ on behalf of a Swiss investigation into ex-FIFA head's payment of 2m Swiss francs to UEFA chief. 

French Football Federation boss ousted

France — Link

Scandal-rocked French Football Federation boss Fernand Duchaussoy was this weekend replaced by Noel Le Graet.

Blowing the whistle on a sick game

France — Analysis

No French authority, and notably no court of law, could allow a selection process among citizens based on their foreign origins, their skin colour or the religion they practice. That is key to understanding the importance of Mediapart's exclusive revelations of how the country's football chiefs hatched secret plans for a discriminatory selection of young players. Mediapart Editor-in-Chief Edwy Plenel argues here why this sorry affair, the demonstration of an alarming loss of values, offers a wakeup call for French society.

Exclusive: French football chiefs' secret plan to whiten 'les Bleus'

France — Investigation

Members of the French Football Federation's National Technical Board, including the France team coach Laurent Blanc (pictured), have secretly elaborated a plan to impose quotas on the number of young black players and those of North African origin among the country's youth training centres which groom potential candidates for the national team, Mediapart can reveal in this exclusive investigation.