FIFA’s Champagne meal turns sour
Print Edition
FRENCH FIFA candidate Jerome Champagne went to a chic Paris restaurant seeking the support of his country’s football federation and left with profanities ringing in his ear.
Champagne said that he was “insulted” in a meeting with French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet who told him he would be backing UEFA secretary general Gianni Infantino for the FIFA presidency in a February 26 vote.
Champagne, a former FIFA deputy secretary general and one of five candidates for the FIFA presidency, said he would protest Le Graet’s decision not to even let him speak to the FFF executive. In response, Le Graet called him a “little man,” used another expletive, threw down the money for the meal and then walked out, according to Le Parisien newspaper.
“I was insulted,” Champagne told AFP, also confirming the media reports.
If elected FIFA president, Champagne would be an automatic member of the International Olympic Committee and so could vote for Paris to get the 2024 Olympics, Le Parisien said some LFP members reasoned. Le Graet was reported to have responded: “I don’t give a damn about the Olympics.”
On Friday, Le Graet publicly endorsed Infantino. “Gianni has all the necessary qualities to be a success,” the FFF declared in a statement.
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