Stade de France: "5 times the margin when Les Bleus play in the provinces" (P. Diallo, FFF)

"The Stade de France was not available during the 2023-24 season because of the Olympic Games. That meant we had to go and play all over the provinces, in Marseille, Metz and Bordeaux. With an average capacity half that of the Stade de France, we increased our margin fivefold. This is significant enough to show that for several decades, the Fédération Française de Football has been in a penalising situation," declared Philippe Diallo, president of the FFF, on 16/01/2025.

The president re-elected on 14/12/2024 spoke at a press briefing organised at the end of the first meeting of the Federation's executive committee, which opened the 2024-2028 term of office. Among the issues discussed by the executive committee, now composed of 28 members (compared to 14 previously), was the future of the stadium in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis, FRA), which belongs to the State and whose current concession contract (in favour of the Vinci-Bouygues consortium) will end on 04/08/2025. The Ministry of Sport, Youth and the Voluntary Sector announced that it would enter into exclusive negotiations with…