FFF president Noël Le Graët has apologized to Zinedine Zidane. The French federation president expresses regret for his ‘clumsy’ remarks. Le Graët was met with a flurry of criticism after his caustic remarks about Zidane
The apology
Le Graët also came up with those excuses on Monday. In a statement via the AFP news agency, he said he would like to personally apologize for his “clumsy” remarks. “I would like to apologize for these comments, which in no way reflect my thoughts on the player he was and the coach he has become,” said Le Graët.
Real Madrid also issued a statement about Le Graët’s statements, about Zinedine Zidane ‘one of the greatest legends of world sport’. “It shows a lack of respect for one of the most admired individuals in the world and our club expects an immediate rectification,” the statement read.
After Kylian Mbappé, two of Zidane’s former teammates have also lashed out at Le Graët. The president of the French federation (FFF) spoke to RMC about the rumors. That Zidane would have been in the picture as national coach at Les Bleus. Le Graët indicated that Zidane was not a candidate to succeed Didier Deschamps. And that he would not even answer the phone if the now-unemployed trainer called him. Le Graët also said he would not care if Zidane became Brazil coach.
Mbappé reacted critically to Le Graët’s striking statements and the French former internationals Youri Djorkaeff and Djibril Cissé also had no good words for the statements of the association chairman. “Mister Le Graët, get out!” wrote 41-time international Cissé on Twitter.
“Unwanted and misplaced. We are talking about a world champion, the world champion,” Djorkaeff, who became world champion with Zidane in 1998, declared on Twitter. Zizou also received a striking statement of support from the French fire brigade. He added, “We received 16,620,980 emergency calls, but Zidane was not among them. We would be very happy if he called us and we would certainly answer!”
