Blanc likely to stay on as France coach after being cleared by Government inquiry

By David Gold

May 10 – France national team coach Laurent Blanc has been cleared by the Government inquiry into the proposal to introduce ethnic quotas restricting the number of players of African and North African origin being trained in French academies.

Both the French Football Federation and the Sports Ministry launched inquiries in the wake of the revelations by MediaPart that senior officials wanted to limit to 30 per cent the number of players who could play for two or more countries in French academies.

Blanc had reportedly been complicit and in favour of the quotas, which had provoked criticism from former team mates who played alongside the France manager in the 1998 World Cup winning side.

Bernard Lama, Patrick Vieira and Lilian Thuram have criticised Blanc, but Cristophe Dugarry and Bixente Lizarazu defended the former Bordeaux coach.

And Alou Diarra, the midfielder of African origin whom Blanc gave the France captaincy to after taking over as manager last year, leapt to the defence of his coach.

Chantal Jouanno, the French Sports Minister, said: “There is nothing leading to say that Laurent Blanc is backing discriminatory practices.

“Laurent Blanc was attending this kind of meeting for the very first time.

“He did not have any project [to limit the number of Black and Arab players], no fixed opinion.”

Jouanno pointed out that although there were not sufficient grounds to launch legal action, such quotas would be illegal.

“There is no element, no accumulation of evidence that leads us to believe there was discrimination.

“There are not enough grounds to refer it to the prosecutor’s office.”

France Football Federation technical director Francois Blaquart, who defended the quota plans, is suspended pending a probe by the organisation.

Jouanno will back an audit into Blaquart’s role.

Though Blanc is not totally in the clear with the findings from the French Football Federation’s inquiry, he looks more likely to stay on as coach following Jouanno’s statement.

Didier Deschamps, the captain of the 1998 World Cup winning side and a would-be favourite to take over from Blanc if he were to be fired, has defended the France coach, as has influential former midfielder Zinedine Zidane, who scored twice in the 1998 final against Brazil and is one of the country’s greatest ever players.

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