June 12 – Philippe Diallo (pictured) has been elected as the new President of the French Football Federation (FFF), taking over a governing body with deep governance problems.
At the FFF general assembly on Saturday, Diallo, 59, won 91% of the votes, running unopposed. He had been serving as interim since February. In April, he became a member of the UEFA executive committee. He will lead the FFF until the end of 2022.
Diallo succeeds the scandal-plagued Noel Le Great, who resigned in February following public pressure as well as an audit commissioned by the Ministry of Sports.
That audit highlighted governance gaps in the fight against sexual and gender-based violence at the FFF, but Le Graet himself has to resign after accusations of moral and sexual harassment. He has spent 11 years in office.
“When he resigned (Le Graet) he asked me to be able to continue to come to the Federation on an ad hoc basis,” said Diallo.
“I saw no difficulty there. Now he comes less, because he has duties elsewhere, especially with FIFA. In the meantime, while respecting the presumption of innocence, we must respect someone who has contributed to the influence of the FFF for years.”
“When Noël Le Graët led the campaign in 2021, we got 73%. And after all the crises, we could wonder if we were going to be able to reconstitute this majority. With 91%, the majority is not only reinforced but it’s grown. I am very proud to have gathered almost the entire football world behind my candidacy.”
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