Le Graet, president of the French federation, has been suspended for his harsh words towards Zidane

You don’t touch a national hero and legend. And it doesn’t pay to speak without respect for the beloved Zinedine Zidane in France. And now the president of the French Football Federation, Noel Le Graet, knows it.

Those words shocked all of France on Sunday. Zinedine Zidane has turned down several offers and has been patiently waiting for the post of coach of the French national team that he has long coveted.

But FFF president Noel Le Graet extended Didier Deschamps’ contract without consulting the executive committee, leaving the France legend out of luck. Thus, several teams, such as the Brazil national team, started to be linked with Zidane.

When Le Graet was asked this question, he answered quite sharply. “That Zidane will coach Brazil? I don’t care, let him go wherever he wants,” he told RMC Sport. And he added.

“If Zidane tried to contact me? No, I wouldn’t have answered his phone anyway,” the federation president shocked, unleashing a huge backlash.

The likes of Kylian Mbappé and Franck Ribéry took to Twitter in support of Zidane. The media and other celebrities began to pressure Le Graet, who eventually caved in and reportedly called Zidane himself to apologise for his words.

But it was not enough anyway, Le Graet is no longer in office. At least for now. The French Football Federation’s extraordinary executive committee, which met on Wednesday morning, decided to remove Noël Le Graet as president until the results of an audit commissioned by the sports ministry are published, according to the newspaper L’Équipe.

In the final analysis, it’s a bit ironic that Le Graet would be put down for this. The French federation headed by its president has long been saddled with several scandals, including sexual harassment, but Le Graet has weathered it all.

And he’s about to be robbed of his job by harsh words about Zidane. The whole situation reaffirmed how much this legend means to France and how much everyone loves him. Except Le Graet.

Source: MARCA, L’Equipe