From the outside, France’s soccer federation has for two years represented its sport’s gold standard: champions at the men’s World Cup in Russia in 2018 and host of the most successful women’s championship in history a year later.

But inside the federation, current and former officials said, that golden aura has masked at least two years of roiling discontent, including accusations of improper behavior by executives toward female staff members, charges of bullying by the organization’s director general and complaints about a toxic culture in which some men routinely direct sexist language and suggestive remarks toward female staff members.

Things have gotten so bad inside the federation’s Paris headquarters, in fact, that the longtime president, Noël Le Graët, has brought in an outside expert trained in repairing broken businesses to guide his staff out of the tumult.

“For several months now I’ve been made aware of instances of dysfunction and tense work relationships within the leadership team,” Le Graët wrote last month in an email to senior staff members that was reviewed by The New York Times. “I do not want this situation to drag on. It is taking a toll on our organization and on proper working conditions among us all.”

Source: New York Times

Powered by NewsAPI.org