Refusal of the Paris SG star Kylian Mbappe to participate in a photo session with the Blues, Pogba affair and internal audit at the Federation: French football is going through a period of strong turbulence, less than two months from the World Cup in Qatar.
Discord over image rights
This is one of the hot issues that agitates French football: since March, Kylian Mbappé has been calling for the modification of the image rights agreement linking the French Football Federation (FFF) and the players of the France team. .
But nothing has changed on the FFF side and Mbappé announced Monday in a press release sent to AFP his decision not to participate in the scheduled photo session with the Blues on Tuesdaysymbol of the showdown between the institution and one of its star players on marketing issues.
Pogba, the family affair
Framework of the France team, the middle of Juventus Paul Pogba is going through a troubled period, between a long injury that could jeopardize his presence at the World Cup (November 20-December 18) and an alleged extortion case that divides even the heart of his own family.
His big brother Mathias Pogba32, was charged on Saturday for organized extortion and participation in a criminal conspiracy, then remanded in custody.
He admitted to the investigators having been at the initiative of the video which revealed this affair at the end of August, before Paul Pogba announced that he had lodged a complaint in mid-July with the prosecutor’s office in Turin (Italy), denouncing extortion between March and July 2022 amounting to 13 million euros.
Paul Pogba told investigators that he was trapped by childhood friends and two hooded men, armed with assault rifles, accusing him of not having helped them financially.
Serial overflows in stadiums
Season 2021-2022 disrupted by numerous excesses of supporters, organizational fiasco during the Champions League final at the Stade de France at the end of May, French football fears new incidents.
Serious clashes occurred in particular in early September in Nice (south) during a Europa League Conference match against Cologne, injuring 32: fights between supporters inside the stadium, also involving former Parisian ultras…
On Wednesday, the day after the Champions League match between Marseille and Frankfurt, UEFA announced the opening of disciplinary proceedings against the two clubs, after multiple incidents that occurred during the home defeat of OM.
Tense atmosphere at the FFF
In an article published on September 8, the French monthly So Foot overwhelmed the boss of the federation, Noel Le Graetevoking, on the basis of anonymous testimonies, the sending of SMS of a sexual nature to employees, several of whom felt “sexually harassed, but also morally“.
Qualified by the media as “drifting boat“, between clan warfare and tensions at the top, the institution has announced that it wants to file a complaint against So Foot for defamation.
One of its senior leaders notably deplored, to AFP, a “great discrepancy between the image of the FFF returned by the press and the federal reality“.
And also: Benzema condemned, Mendy judged…
Another pillar of the French team and favorite for the Ballon d’Or on October 17, Karim Benzema received a one-year suspended prison sentence in the case of the “sextape” which opposed him to his former teammate in Blues, Matthew Valbuena.
In June, he gave up appealing. Benzema had long been sidelined from the national team before returning during Euro-2021.
Crowned world champion with the France team in 2018, the defender Benjamin Mendy is on trial in England on multiple rape charges. The trial, which opened in early August, is ongoing.