The former president of the French Football Federation Claude Simonet, in office during the coronation of the Blues at home at the 1998 World Cup, died at the age of 92, announced the FFF on Wednesday. The leader, who had chaired the "3F" from 1994 to 2005, died on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday in Nantes, said the federation. Established in the local football authorities in Loire-Atlantique and Nantes, he had previously had a career as an amateur footballer as a goalkeeper, at Le Mans and Nantes in particular, where the current coach Didier Deschamps also passed.
"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 France 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 is one of the most successful presidents in the history of French football. During his eleven years of presidency, he greatly contributed to the development of our football. He took the reins of the federation when it was going through turbulence and put it back on track,” he added. A tribute will be paid to Claude Simonet on the occasion of France-Netherlands, on Friday March 24, at the same time as that granted to Just Fontaine, who died on March 1, 2023.
His end of term was tainted by the failure of the 2002 World Cup (elimination of the Blues in the first round) and the so-called Romanée-Conti affair, relating to a bottle of wine from a Burgundy estate at 4,800 euros consumed during a meal of around twenty guests and appearing on a restaurant bill paid by the president after France-Senegal (0-1) in Seoul. The former leader had also been found guilty of having masked a deficit of 13.9 million euros at the FFF for the period 2002-2003, revealing, thanks to accounting make-up, only a deficit of 63 000 euros.
