World Rugby Elections – “The man taking on the Rugby planet”: portrait of Abdelatif Benazzi, a world citizen with strong ambition

He will therefore have an appointment with his dizzying destiny next Thursday, in Dublin. At the end of the vote by the World Rugby council, Abdelatif Benazzi could settle into the chair of boss of the World Rugby, third Frenchman after Albert Ferrasse (rotating presidency) and Bernard Lapasset (2007-2015). He would be the first international tricolor… and the third Agenais, which means that the Prefecture of Lot-et-Garonne retains its influence throughout the ages.

The vote is not a foregone conclusion, “Abdel” has two declared opponents and there will undoubtedly be alliances behind the scenes. But his simple presence in this competition says something about the ambition and extraordinary trajectory of this Franco-Moroccan who, in 1988, on his birthday, arrived in Cahors to live in a studio without knowing anyone. “My destiny and my ambition began when I decided to leave home at 19 to discover a country and a club that opened its arms to me. It was not easy because I was destined to take over the family affairs.” In 36 years, a lot has happened, in crampons and a suit and tie, on the pitches, classrooms and offices, sometimes far from the spotlight.

The ambition to sit in the presidential chair in Dublin took shape in his brain between October 2023 and July 2024. “The idea came from me, driven by the relationships I built during the World Cup and the Olympics. The fact that France hosted two major events in quick succession helped us a lot. We had everyone on hand, an assembly of World Rugby, the IOC Everyone came to Marcoussis while France demonstrated its organizational power and especially in terms of pure rugby, our model of working hand in hand with the LNR that some us. envy.”

Countering a certain French impotence

Abdelatif is a name, it’s true, which speaks to the entire oval planet. “I played in England and Australia. The story of my failed try made me famous in South Africa, I remained friends with François Pienaar. I went hunting with him, he allowed me to have a text by Nelson Mandela for the preface to my book.”

Even in a suit and tie, he felt strong enough to develop a certain French-style impotence: “We were largely absent from international bodies, we were responsible for this situation. We had been asked and we were unable to respond, for cultural reasons. Look, France has often participated little in the High Performance Commission, the more important. It brings together all the managers and all the referees who sit to talk about the future of the game. But now, that is starting to change, with Fabien Galthié and Raphaël Ibanez who are starting to sit. Now, we are starting to share our values. , and we are starting to invite all nations to work hand in hand and come to Marcoussis. Look: for the disciplinary problems that we experienced this summer, we established an ethical program inspired by what ours did. European and even southern neighbors.”

Abdelatif Benazzi has often been looked at biased by prejudice or hasty judgments, including to defend him from certain attacks. But he escapes the clichés that stick to the skin of Moroccans in France. He is not the son of an immigrant who came there looking for work. He comes from a prosperous family. He was a high school graduate when he arrived in France and was determined not to stop there: “My family had mills in Morocco, but I was different from my cousins, with an unusual physique at fifteen. Maybe I was a little rebellious because I wanted to get out of the family cocoon. I already played rugby, I trained in secret because our sport was seen as a violent activity. A teacher gave me confidence, I wanted to exist on my own, with my difference. For my parents it was a surprise when I told them I wanted to leave, my mother didn’t want me to go.”
In our magazine, in fall 2023, Abdelatif went into a little more detail: “When I was younger, I was a little fat, a little clumsy and very introverted… One day, a sports teacher asked me if I could enjoy this sport. So, I was quickly convinced.” It was imposing, but perhaps not yet colossal. He had to deal with this nickname “Tabbouz”, which was not very rewarding, coated in mockery which pushed him to withdraw into himself. Rugby allowed him to get rid of all his complexes, with the sudden feeling that the world was opening up to him. It was undoubtedly there that he felt ambitions rising within him which never dried up. He, the son of a family well established in the business world, could not be satisfied with his simple talent as a player.
First symptom, this departure to Agen in 1989: “I wanted to establish myself in the biggest French club! I saw it as a way of building my character.”

The youngest may have forgotten what the SUA represented at the time: “I was undoubtedly lucky to find myself in a club where the important decisions of the FFR were made. I remember Guy Basquet telling me: “Here we train men because rugby only lasts for a while”. I had the idea of ​​going to play in Bordeaux, to be closer to the university, but Albert Ferrasse also told me that if I wanted to work alongside rugby, he would help me find my place. and that if I stayed in Agen, I would not regret it.” He established himself in the SUA with certain difficulties, the former members of the group did not do him any favors: “But that’s how it was, in Agen! The young people all had to go through that before being accepted”confides his friend Philippe Benetton. We also remember the racist provocations: “It was part of the game at the time, but I found that Abdel was above that. On the other hand, to defend his friends, he became mean…” We also remember criticisms coming from his own teammates who, covertly, did not accept his innovative game, his powerful straight runs to test the opposing defenses at full strength. Benazzi was in contradiction with the principles of a certain collective game at Agenaise. He paid for it with a certain solitude but he always considered that these little pitfalls were part of life, the future proved him right. Despite a few bouts of bloodshed, he had enough gumption to chart his course, with maximum lucidity without denying his “ambitions”, the word actually comes easily to him.

A decisive meeting with Florian Grill

At the same time as his rise to sporting power, Abdelatif Benazzi also began working at Fruit d’Or, an agri-food company, with regional responsibilities. Then rugby became professional when Abdel was only 27 years old. His career took a new turn, as for all those of his generation. When he hung up his boots in 2003, while playing for Saracens, he did not continue with Fruit d’Or. He chooses to stay in the sports world, on the office and computer side: “I went to train with a master’s degree at Essec, a business school, in the field of sports marketing. Then I worked for Sportfive, as head of sports development. That’s where I became a file man, unconsciously, starting from the ground up. I discovered the world of partners, advertisers, in contact with the FFR elsewhere. Then, at the same time, I invested in real estate and in sports halls. I discovered the life of a business manager and the risks that it entails, so I moved away from rugby emotions or rather the lack of them, which can eat away at you at the end of your career.”

And then, there was this meeting, with Florian Grill: “I moved to Paris when I finished my career, I was looking for a club to continue playing touch and I met Florian, who was an educator in Boulogne-Billancourt. With Noor, my association, we reorganized the trip of 120 young people from the ACBB to Oujda. I understood all the values ​​he carried and his passion for our sport.”

It was this friendship that connected Abdelatif to the authorities, for the battle for power against the Laporte clan. The narrowly lost election in 2020, entry to the steering committee in May 2023, the vice-presidency in June 2023 and finally the formal, masterful victory of the Grill list in October 2024. We sometimes forget that ‘Abdel had, as if to perfect his CV, experience in a professional club, in Montpellier in 2015-2016. “An excellent memory! We went to the semi-final of the championship, we won the Challenge Cup. I had good relations with Mohed Altrad… There was a crisis after the departure of Fabien Galthié. We had to professionalize the club by accompanying Jake White but sometimes, misunderstandings and intrigues mean that we prefer to separate while keeping good relationships. I clashed with certain people who were there and who were around the club, who did not accept the change. But we had to make strong decisions. This experience allowed me to immerse myself in the world of professionalism, to understand its structures. It’s a shame not to have successfully completed this project of developing the club. periphery around the stadium… But I think I have been honest with myself and with others, I always come back to Montpellier with my head held high.”

Facing the behemoths of the south

This string was undoubtedly missing from his bow, before attacking the citadel of Marcoussis. Upon his arrival, he encountered the question of income from the Six Nations Tournament, now shared ad vitam aeternam with CVC by the previous governance. “We had to review this percentage of income, in our opinion it was unfair to France. It was done at a time when France was losing a lot of matches… But committing France to a four-year cycle is one thing; Committing for life is something else. Today, we are rethinking that. It’s not normal to bring 26% of the media rights and only receive 16% of the revenue. , a contract is a contract, but we has at least opened this debate.”

The year 2024 was the year of awareness of its potential. “I made the decision during the Olympic Games, but we delayed the decision because of the cases that you know about (Auradou-Jegou and Narjissi, Editor’s note) because we had to respect the families. In any case, we had to open up to others to share our model: if we do not do so, France’s influence will suffer. It will not be considered even though we are one of the countries that contribute the most to the rugby economy.” It remains to determine its program. Abdelatif Benazzi does not hide his desire to open up to emerging nations. He has repeatedly recalled that the eleven strongest nations control 75% of the votes, a situation in his eyes conducive to conservatism.

He will be strongly supported by the FFR, but is not officially the candidate (subtlety is important). He claims “independent” status, a spokesperson for all rugby. But it will inevitably come up against the influence of historically powerful countries, the two Oceanian behemoths (Australia and New Zealand) for example. Abdel’s bet is that of all-out development, pointing out that the great nations are all losing money, even England, which was once a safe haven. He believes that only a massive development of rugby could turn them around. His singular journey seems, it is true, to embody this hypothesis.