- Corinne Diacre dismissed as coach of France women´s team.
- Wendie Renard stated that she would no longer play for team.
- French federation said its own inquiry had revealed.
Several months before the Women’s World Cup, Corinne Diacre was fired as the coach of the France women’s team when key players rose up in mutiny.
After team captain Wendie Renard stated last month that she would no longer play for the team, fellow stars Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto followed suit. The 48-year-old was under contract until 2024 but was put under intense pressure.
The French Football Federation (FFF) made the news on Thursday, just over four months before the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, when a fifth-ranked France team will seek to play a significant role.
The French federation said its own inquiry had revealed “a serious rift with senior players” that had “reached a point of no-return that was hurting the team’s interests” after the recent resignation of its scandal-plagued 81-year-old president Noel Le Graet.
“The FFF acknowledges the implication and the seriousness with which Corinne Diacre and her staff have done their job, but it seems the problems are, in this context, irreversible,” it added.
“In view of this, it has been decided to bring an end to Corinne Diacre´s job at the head of the France women´s team.”
When Lyon defender Renard, who has 142 caps and is regarded as one of the top players in the world, revealed last month that she would not be attending the World Cup, she made that fracture public.
“I can no longer support the current system which falls a long way short of the demands required to compete at the highest level,” Renard said.
Diani and Katoto, both forwards for Paris Saint-Germain and the top scorer in the French league who, like Renard, was nominated for the Ballon d’Or last year, did the same.
“We have reached a point of no going back. The girls just can´t cope with it any more,” Diani told broadcaster TF1 last weekend, but the sacking of Diacre could now see those stars come back into the fold.
Diacre claimed to have been the target of a “smear campaign” and that she was “absolutely committed to carry out my duty and, above all, to represent France proud at the next World Cup” in an interview on Wednesday.
She had hoped to hold onto the job until after the Paris Olympics the following year.
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