The French Football Federation opted for continuity. In mid-December, Philippe Diallo, the outgoing president, was re-elected during the elective Federal Assembly, winning 55.34% of the vote.
On his list, freshly renewed, is Joëlle Monlouis, lawyer specializing in sports law and now general secretary of the French Football Federation.
This committed Guadeloupean reaches the highest sphere of French football, where other West Indians also feature.
I am particularly happy that French football has decided to support our program, the football that we love, by recognizing the values that we were able to explain throughout the campaign, which are relatively simple. It is a federation which is committed to serving the clubs, a federation which listens and a federation which is supported by a Comex represented by experienced people who listen to the field.
Joëlle Monlouis explains what his priorities will be within the new mandate of the FFF, as general secretary.
We will quietly let the former members finish their terms and we will take over at the start of the year with a first Executive Committee planned. This is, in any case, what was indicated during the General Assembly, around the second half of January in order to be able to meet very quickly, detail more precisely the roadmap and all the proposals that we were able to present in the program. We'll get to work quickly. In the programmatic elements, there was the major French Football Conference which was announced and it will be one of the first stones that we will put in place. It will aim, indeed, to bring together clubs, districts, leagues, to discuss the terms of the new impetus made possible thanks to the increase in aid to amateur football which goes from 100 to 150 million per year. The idea will be to know how we are going to organize this distribution.
Special attention for the Antilles
Given her origins, the lawyer specializing in sports law ensures that she will have a very particular look for the Antilles and Overseas, in particular.
As a Guadeloupean, it was important that the West Indies could be present in the program of the candidate I had decided to follow. And this was indeed the case for Philippe Diallo. When he was in office, a certain amount of work had already been done, in particular with Frédéric Thiriez's report on Overseas Territories, which proposed a new impetus for football with a certain number of missions. He traveled to the West Indies to see everyone and to take the pulse, learn about the issues, and discuss. And this is the reason why, in our programmatic elements, we considered setting up an overseas support secretariat which would make it possible to support our territories as best as possible taking into account our obstacles and these different particularities. For me, this is something very innovative and above all, it is something necessary.
In a press release, Ary Chalus, the president of the Guadeloupe Regionwelcomed the appointment of Joëlle Monlouis, who succeeds another Guadeloupean compatriot, Laura Georges.
It is an immense pride for Guadeloupe to see such a competent and committed woman access such an important position within the largest sports federation in France.
The regional executive expresses its wish to see the FFF take “concrete initiatives to support young Guadeloupean talents, improve sports infrastructure, support club mobility and promote women's football in the archipelago”.
