By David Gold
April 29 – The French Football Federation (FFF) will hold an investigation into reports emanating from French website Mediapart, which claimed officials within the organisation are in favour of quotas limiting the number of players recruited by academies from immigrant communities.
The website claimed it had information demonstrating the policy was being considered by senior officials, including national team coach Laurent Blanc.
“For the top brass in French football, the issue is settled: there are too many blacks, too many Arabs and not enough white players in French football,” the website claimed.
“Some top officials at the French football federation’s National Development Programme (DTN), including national team coach Laurent Blanc, secretly approved at the start of 2011 the principle of unofficial discriminatory quotas in training centres and schools around the country.”
French Football Federation President Fernand Duchaussoy expressed surprise at the claims, and confirmed that an inquiry would be held to investigate the matter.
“You need to ask François Blaquart (the National Technical Director); there was a meeting last week of the Federal Council and there was no question of this then,” he said.
“This shocks me.
“But then, in an informal discussion… I cannot be everywhere.
“There will be an investigation.
“What happened in a meeting, behind a door or in the corridors… I cannot vouch for everyone working at the federation.
“But I am confident [that there was no wrongdoing].”
Blaquart also spoke to the media to argue that France needed quotas to prevent them from training large numbers of players who may play for another country.
“Do we accept this situation? said Blaquart
“Is it our role to groom players for other countries?”
Sports Minister Chantal Jouanno (pictured with Blanc) had requested that the FFF speak publicly and disown the possibility of quotas.
“I acknowledge the FFF’s denial and I ask them to quickly shed light on the article’s allegations,” she said.
“I know that Fernand Duchaussoy will be uncompromising and that he will take the necessary measures without delay.”
Blanc was said to be “outraged” by the reports, according to the French team’s media officer Philippe Tournon, who added that the former Bordeaux coach “categorically denies that he could have supported selections based on ethnicity or skin colour”.
Not only would the quotas be highly controversial politically, but there is a real risk they would have an adverse affect on the national team’s performances.
Many of the country’s top youth academies, such as Stade Rennais’ award winning system and the famous Clairefontaine national training centre near Paris, recruit high numbers of players from minority and immigrants backgrounds.
The French squad relies upon such players more than the majority of its European rivals, with some of its best players in recent years being sons of immigrants.
From the 1998 World Cup winning side, Zinedine Zidane, probably the greatest player of his generation and possibly in French football history, was of Algerian descent, whilst Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira were from Guadeloupe and Senegal respectively.
And in the current French team, a number of its current and future stars, such as Mamadou Sakho, Yann M’Vila, Guillame Hoarau and Samir Nasri, hail from ethnic minority groups.
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