French football meets Deschamps in the waiting room
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Paris (AFP) – Usually brief, the debate revolves around the extension of Didier Deschamps at the helm of the 2022 vice-world champions Blues, and the expected formalization is unlikely to take place before the FFF’s executive committee and federal assembly on Friday. Saturday.
Less than three weeks after losing to Argentina in the World Cup final, the red carpet was already rolled out for the coach, with the Comex Federation and then the winter meeting coming at the right time to ratify the continuation of the adventure. penalties (3-3 ap, 4-2 pen).
Deschamps’ latest contract extension, signed in December 2019 after qualifying for the Euros, was a formality quickly sealed during a traditional meeting at Guingamp with Federation president Noël Le Graet.
“Fair and decent,” it “also involves obligations,” Le Graët declared before the Federal Assembly, primarily to protect “very high-level results.”
Since then, the French team has known its doubts about a premature end to the Euros in the summer of 2021, a Nations League title the following autumn, then a second consecutive World Cup final on December 18. many setbacks that weakened the squad.
Aim for 2024 or 2026
As usual, Le Graet hosted the coach at Castle Breton on 29 December, two days before the expiry of Deschamps’ contract, to mark the continuation of their partnership which began in July 2012.
If nothing or almost nothing filtered out of this meeting, it was not a one-off conclusion.
“We have to be able to manage. But let’s stop completely. It’s not over,” the head of the FFF simply agreed to announce to the newspaper Le Parisien.
The main scandal is over the duration of the future contract: until Euro 2024 in Germany, as suggested by Le Graet, or until the 2026 World Cup in North America, as Deschamps wanted?
The current mandate of the Breton leader (age 81) runs until 2024 and he would not want to extend the coach’s tenure. A senior FFF source explains that the successor to NLG at the helm of the Federation will indeed be “tied hand and foot” with such a commitment.
Deschamps out on Saturday?
According to sports newspaper L’Equipe, a meeting is planned between Le Graet and Deschamps’ agent Jean-Pierre Bernès on Friday in the hope of “significant progress on the file”.
The executive committee of the federation is scheduled to meet on Friday from 4:00 p.m.
The future of the French team is in everyone’s mind, but the focus should be on the new Department of Technical Arbitration (DTA) with the appointment of a successor to Pascal Garibaldi, who was sacked due to the hostility that has devoted most of the professional clubs to him in the session. .
The firmest assumption in the corridors of the FFF is that Antoine Gauthier will take control of the DTA, while Stéphane Lannoy, the 1st choice of the elite clubs, will lead the professional sector.
The idea, in any case, would be to introduce the new face or faces of arbitration at a federal assembly scheduled for Saturday at 9 a.m. at a Paris hotel in the 17th arrondissement.
This semi-annual meeting brings together representatives of League 1 and League 2 clubs, league and district presidents, Comex and League of Amateur Football (LFA) members, among others.
There, the activity and financial report of the FFF for the 2021-2022 season will be revised, as well as some federal texts: the disciplinary scale, the regulations of the national championships…
The diary, as usual, involves “intervention of breeders”. Corinne Deacon is expected for Les Bleues and Sylvain Ripoll for Les Espoirs, while Deschamps’ availability remains uncertain. “From December 31, he is no longer a coach,” we breathe.
© 2023 AFP
