After his words against Zinedine Zidane and new allegations about his attitude towards the fair sex, everyone is rushing towards Noël Le Graët. Many media personalities have called for his resignation, but that depends only on the experts at the French Football Federation, who re-elected him in March 2021.
According to the regulations, a sports federation is a club under the 1901 Act. As such, there are strict legal requirements for the recall and dismissal of a president, which is what many people want in relation to Noël Le Graet. According to Article 2004 of the Civil Code, only the body that exercised the mandate of the President has the power to dismiss him. In other words, it is only the General Assembly of the FFF that Noël Le Graët introduced in 2011 to sack him.
The General Assembly is solely responsible
According to the statutes, he is not obliged to justify his decision, it is sufficient if he votes for the dismissal of the presidential mandate by a majority. Regarding the anticipated severance pay, again in accordance with Article 2004 of the Civil Code, “a federation chairman may be dismissed ad nutum, which means that the federation is perfectly free to dismiss him at any time, without reason and without payment of any compensation to him. In this case, Noël Le Graët would have to forego expected compensation and his salary of 206,000 euros per year until 2024. And if he were to oppose that decision, he would not have the resources to take the matter to the labor court. Following a 2015 case law on a former president of an archeology association questioning his dismissal, “the Court of Appeals [a estimé] that the dispute [devait] be brought before the tribunal de grande instance and not before the prud’hommes because the manager was not an employee of the association”. In contrast to Raymond Domenech, who was dismissed from the FFF in 2010 and received 975,000 euros in compensation, Noël Le Graët not turn against the association if it separates from him.
The state hardly plays a role
Another scenario: the intervention of the Ministry of Sport. Remember that the French Football Federation is a public service delegation, it depends directly on the relevant ministry but remains completely independent. In addition, international sports regulations establish this detail and prohibit all forms of political interference in the athlete. FIFA, in particular, threatens a country that wants to directly influence the administration of its association with simply banning it from sports competitions. This was the case in Spain in 2017, who were threatened with exclusion from the 2018 World Cup after the government called for new elections within the Iberian association.
The only solution at the time was to force Noël Le Graët to resign without official intervention, thus maneuvering behind the scenes of Federation power. Something that was already being done within the ice sports federation when the ministry pushed for the departure of Didier Gailhaguet in 2020, who was suspected of ignoring cases of harassment and sexual violence. Only everything is not so simple and there is case law on this issue. Gailhaguet, who he said had been forced to resign, attacked the state for moral damage in 2021 and won his trial. The Paris Administrative Court found that then Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu “exerted pressure […] crucial to persuade him to resign and prevent the French Ice Sports Federation (FFSG) from speaking freely on the issue. In principle, the Ministry has no control over the leadership of the associations. If he intervenes, the association can be sanctioned, and if he indirectly presses for a change, association members can turn against him and seek redress. Gailhaguet also received 5,000 euros for his damage. Ultimately, there is only one solution: the FFF General Assembly must convene to decide on the Le Graët case. She is the only one who is capable of making decisions and making decisions, she can even do so without any justification or compensation. Now it remains to be seen if she will. Why would the same members who have renewed Noël Le Graët mandate after mandate since 2011 dismiss him today?
By Pierre Rondeau