FFF: "The Federation can't have the same freedom of expression as the players" (P. Diallo)

"I'm the president of a federation, not the leader of a party, and I don't have any voting instructions to give to the French people. The FFF's principles as a federation mean that political and religious debates must be avoided and the principle of neutrality must be upheld. Our Federation, with 2.4 million members, must bring together French people in all their diversity, including their opinions. The Federation cannot have the same freedom of expression as the players, and that's normal," said Philippe Diallo, president of the Fédération Française de Football, in Paderborn (GER) on 18/06/2024.

Diallo was reacting to the stances taken by some French team players, including Marcus Thuram and Kylian Mbappé, following the European elections won (31.47% of votes cast) by the Rassemblement National ((RN, National Rally, until 2018 known as the National Front, far-right) on 09/06/2024 and ahead of the early legislative elections (30/06 and 07/07/2024) implied by the dissolution of the National Assembly announced on the same day by French President Emmanuel Macron. Marcus Thuram called…