Clash with Zidane: Le Graët stands by his words… halfway. The former president of the French Football Federation is revisiting his controversial remarks from three years ago.
In January 2023, Noël Le Graët sparked a media storm when he took aim at Zinedine Zidane. “I don’t care, he can go wherever he wants.” A striking statement made while the former head of the French Football Federation was primarily trying to defend his national team coach Didier Deschamps, who had just been handed a contract extension.
Le Graët Defends His Remarks About Zidane and Deschamps
Today, Le Graët says he apologized, while still standing by the substance of his comments. “I said sorry because it became so widely publicized that… But if I said that, it was in relation to Didier,” he explained to the outlet Carré.
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According to him, his reaction was aimed more at the criticism surrounding Deschamps’ renewal than at Zidane himself. “When I re-signed Didier, I took a lot of heat! People said we had to bring in Zidane… So my reaction wasn’t against Zidane. But it was quite unfair that people didn’t say congratulations to someone who fulfilled a sporting mission with an unexpected result.”
“I don’t regret that media outburst,” he added, while admitting the wording may have been clumsy. “My reaction was more about saying it was unfair to keep being interviewed about Zidane right after Didier signed, when in my view almost everyone would have extended Didier. But I don’t regret that media appearance. If I regretted all the stupid things I’ve said in my life, whether in football or elsewhere…” A statement that, beyond the controversy, accelerated his downfall and led to his forced resignation. One sentence. An earthquake. And the end of Le Graët in just a few words.
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