The "president of the Zidane generation" and the 1998 World Cup is dead. Claude Simonet died at the age of 92, his family confirmed to the French Football Federation (FFF) on Wednesday March 15.
The former amateur goalkeeper has played professionally several times at Le Mans and FC Nantes. He was president of the FFF for eleven years, from 1994 to 2005. In 1998, this native of Orne was made a knight of the Legion of Honor after France's victory at the World Cup.
In 2007, Claude Simonet was given a six-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 10,000 euros for his role in the falsification of the accounts of the sports organization. He was accused of forgery and forgery for having concealed a deficit of 13.9 million euros for the period from 2002 to 2003, revealing, thanks to the accounting makeup of which he was suspected, only a deficit of 63,000 euros.
The end of the presidency of the former Nantes goalkeeper had been marked by criticism of a sometimes high federal lifestyle, symbolized by the episode of a bottle of Romanée-Conti paid for 4,800 euros by the FFF in evening of the defeat of France against Senegal (1-0), during the 2002 World Cup.
"With the disappearance of Claude Simonet, French football loses a leader who marked the history of our sport since he was our president when we had the good fortune to win the World Cup in 1998 (...) then the 'Euro 2000,' Deschamps responded in a statement. “He brought the French team back on the path to success. I will keep strong images of him, of intense happiness.
The acting president of the FFF Philippe Diallo for his part testified to his "deep affection" for the former leader, and a "great respect" for his career. "He took the reins of the Federation when it was going through turmoil and got it back on track," he added.
