Underage boys and underage girls were victims of sexual assault, extortion and harassment by French coaches, skaters, agents and senior workers. football. They were not safe in the national teams or clubs. Romain Molina, an investigative journalist known for exposing sex scandals in the football world, writes in Josimar Football that serious violations occurred at the famous French Federation training center in Clairefontaine, but also in Paris Saint-Germain, leonTroyes and many smaller French clubs.
The perpetrators are named by name and surname. He writes about their crimes specifically. It is shocking with the scale and prevalence of the violations. It disgusts Noel Le Graet, the president of the French Football Federation, who was aware of several cases but preferred to cover them up rather than actually solve them. He never reported the crimes to state authorities. He was more concerned with the image and function of the federation than with the young players. He was silent instead of acting. He threatened witnesses, not perpetrators.
When something like this happens, you shut your mouth or you finish. They are very strong. The moment you report the abuse you are out of the game. You are not only outside the federation, but also outside the LFP (Professional Football League) and outside the clubs, admitted Molina, a former employee of the French Federation. He requested anonymity. The victims’ parents, former football players, Clairefontaine security guards, and other union officials also told him about the abuse. One of the directors of the French Football Federation tried to compare: “The union is like a hairdresser. Everyone is gossiping. Everyone knows about these cases, but soon they were silenced. There was a conspiracy of silence. Heads in the sand. Did you say a word?!”.
Did the coach force the football players to have intercourse? She was released but kept her license and continued to work with children
Noel Le Graet, president of the French Federation, 81, filed a lawsuit against the French magazine So Foot days ago for defamation after an article in which journalists revealed the content of the dirty letters he sent to his subordinates. The information was copied by almost all the French media and the minister took an interest in the matter sportsBut if you run, he denies everything and says he doesn’t even think about his resignation. He intends to rule until 2024. But after Josemar’s football article, it’s hard to imagine.
In it, Molina claims that Angelique Rojas, a former French international when she became a coach, had sexual relations with underage footballers. She was supposed to have sex at the Federation’s training facility, and the more confident—or terrified, manipulative and blackmailed players—she regularly invited over to her house on the weekends. The first – already in 2004.
In 2013, when she was the director of women’s football in France, she was fired as more people got brave and talked about her scandalous behaviour. Le Graet knew about it before. He admitted this in an internal letter he sent to some union employee, and years later the matter fell into Molina’s hands. For years he turned a blind eye to this. In the end, Rojas fired when the first-team stars threatened to be beaten and spread the scandal. But Rojas has retained the license to continue working with children and teens.
La Great got rid of the problem and kept quiet, so Roujas quickly found a job at Metz, where she worked with girls ages 6-13 from 2014-2019, then took over the U-19 team in the second. The level club ESOF La Roche, where it operates until today. Did Le Graet do anything else about it? Yes – the base of the women’s section of Clairefontaine has been moved to the Institut National de la Sportif on the outskirts of Paris. He explained that it was for logistical reasons, but even the union managers admitted that the goal was to keep the problem away from each other.
A French representative claims to have asked union directors, incl. Brigitte Henrik, high rank, why Rojas kept her license after her release, but the director said that she is under investigation and until the end of the union she has no right to withdraw her powers. this is not true. According to art. 85 sec. 5 general rules for FFF, the union could have done it. “The license may be refused or revoked in the case of moral infractions, even if they are not subject to criminal penalties.”
Two federal officials said Henrik had kept them silent on the matter, and a former Clairefontaine security guard added: “I’ve dealt with women’s football and done nothing to help the girls.”
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The coach confessed his love to a thirteen-year-old boy. Obtained a UEFA A license.
– I love you, my love – This was the text David San Jose was supposed to write to his 13-year-old student. He was supposed to send dozens of similar messages. At Clairefontaine, he was director of non-football education. At the same time, he was a coach and was in regular contact with teenage football players. According to Molina’s informants, he insisted that the players’ periodic scales be naked, without underwear. In the union, they learned about it, but let it work. Not only that – San Jose even got a coaching license from UEFA, and President Lou Graet signed the diploma.
Francois Morey/AFP photo
Eventually – in 2020 – he was also fired from his union job, but it was done quietly again, without giving any details or reasons for his dismissal. It seemed like a departure like any other. This is also what the bosses of Olympique de Valence, who hired him at home, thought. “How do we know why he was fired from Clairefontaine?” asks Malik Vivant, the club’s CEO.
The union hid what happened. She emphasized that the Molina players who trained at Clairefontaine had never investigated the case when San Jose worked there. Hedi Mahnawi, the roommate of one of the San Jose victims, also admitted that he was never questioned in the case.
The New York Times and L’Equpie, who also wrote about San Jose’s hateful behavior, say he continued to misbehave towards underage boys after leaving the union.
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Sex for a place on the team
Elisabeth Lucile is a former defender who has represented France 40 times. After her football career, she worked as a coach for the women’s national team for ten years. She resigned in 2006, then worked with football players in China for a year, and returned to work for the federation as a mentor helping young coaches obtain their licenses. He is also a FIFA coach.
Two players said they told the federation in 2001 that Lucille had forced them to have sex with her so that they could continue to be called up to the national team. Gerard Brecher, a former female manager, also accused her of testifying staff. He says he quit his job in 2004 because he noticed Lucille favored gay female players.
The heads of the French Federation were supposed to have known about the case, but their protection for the players was limited to removing Lucile from daily work with them and moving to another position. Noel Le Graet himself was said to have turned her down to work with the French youth team. “We cannot allow her to train children,” he said during a meeting with some of the union’s closest managers. However, he did not fire her from her job.
Three years in prison and 45 thousand. euro fine
Molina believes that since the 1980s, successive presidents of the French Football Federation have heard reports of sexual abuse by their employees. Matters were wiped under the rug, and CEOs were more often than not siding with the perpetrators. The violations occurred in the center of the Federation, but also in well-known clubs. Chiefs, coaches, scouts, and judges are in water. Politicians past and present, incl. Former Sports Minister Najat Valloud Belkacem, former Minister of State for Sports Thierry Briar and Najat Valloud Belkacem, former Minister of National Education, Women’s Rights, Youth and Sports, agree that they have never been notified of violations in the Football Federation. At the end of his article, Romain Molina states that under French law, failure to report a crime is punishable by three years in prison prisons And 45 thousand euro fine. He also declares that this is not the end of his publication on the matter.
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