• Wendie Renard, Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto, three executives of the France team, announced Friday their withdrawal from the Blues because of the current management.
  • A message that targets Corinne Diacre, in the wake of a sad France Tournament, won this week without removing the slightest doubt about the game project and the choices of the coach.
  • The case of the boss of the Blues will be studied Tuesday at the meeting of the executive committee of the FFF.

One crisis too many for Corinne Deacon? Dropped in a shattering way Friday by its three most emblematic players, captain Wendie Renard and the two star strikers Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto, the coach of the France team is again at the heart of a whirlwind that could prove fatal this time. The status quo is in any case impossible, five months before the 2023 World Cup in Australia (20 July-20 August).

The evil is profound, and it is not new. A big crisis had broken out in November 2020, with a first charge of the captain at the time, Amandine Henry, dismissed overnight from the selection. The Lyonnaise had said out loud what some were thinking out loud since the 2019 World Cup, including Wendie Renard - already - to whom Diacre had removed the armband. The authoritarian management of the latter was then at the center of criticism. Gaëtane Thiney, Eugénie Le Sommer or Sarah Bouhaddi, historical personalities of Les Bleues, had also paid the price.


The coach had nevertheless been confirmed in her functions by Noël Le Graët, who also decided - all alone - to extend it last August after the semi-failure of the Euro (elimination in the semi-finals) until 2024. "With Corinne, we are on the right slope," had then justified the boss of the FFF. The management had indeed softened a little, and the coach seemed to have made peace with some players, including Renard. She was described internally as more "smiling" and "relaxed".

This time, the criticism focuses less on the human than on the athlete. Without explicitly naming Corinne Diacre, Renard, Katoto and Diani explain their withdrawal by an operation "far from the requirements required by the highest level". The failures in the last major competitions and the worrying performances in October (defeats in Germany and Sweden) and February (sluggish 1-0 victory against Denmark, 0-0 draw against Norway) are the result, one understands from reading their communiqué, of shortcomings in the working method.

A burning Comex on Tuesday

"It's been a while since the sessions are not tactically enough, it does not work enough," says a close to the Blues to RMC. Video feedback would be the same, if it exists. In summary, the players criticize a lack of requirement and professionalism, and feel their team going straight into the wall a few weeks before the World Cup.

From this point of view, the fact that Corinne Diacre no longer has at her side a number 2 after the successive departures of her assistants Philippe Joly and Eric Blahic does not help. The coach is now accompanied only by a physical trainer and a goalkeeper coach. A tight staff that contrasts with what we see in the other major selections, and even with the habits of the players in their clubs. The top scorer of D1 Kadidiatou Diani conditions her possible return to "profound changes".

Will they take place? The French Federation, which "wishes to recall that no individuality is above the institution Team of France", announced Friday evening that it "will take up the issue" at the meeting of its executive committee on Tuesday. It hardly seems conceivable that things will stop there, but the FFF does not want to be taken hostage by the latter. However, it will be necessary to decide this arm wrestling, a big month before the next gathering scheduled for April.

  • Football
  • Corinne Deacon
  • Women's France Team
  • Wendie Renard
  • Marie-Antoinette Katoto
  • Sport