Knysna fiasco

The fiasco of Knysna ( French le fiasco de Knysna ) is the network of sporting failure, internal squabbles and the resulting massive loss of reputation of the French national football team (les Bleus) during and after the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa . Measured by the number of publications on the subject, these events preoccupied the media in France at least as much as the major political issues of summer 2010 (“ Bettencourt affair ”, raising the retirement age, expulsion of the Roma ). Even ten years later, numerous French media outlets recalled this dark episode.

Knysna

The events that triggered the scandal took place in mid-June 2010 in the French team headquarters in Knysna [ ˈnaɪznə ] and in the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane . In France itself, they led to a broad, long-lasting public discussion, in which the President of the Republic, during a state visit, several members of the government and the National Assembly took part at an early stage. The events in turn had repercussions on the national football association FFF and the players, coaches and officials directly involved. They also contributed to a loss of image of French football abroad, which was reflected in numerous critical and derisive articles in the international press. These did not only refer to the poor performance of the Équipe tricolore .

After initially no uniform name for the events had been established, the French media described them as a fiasco with increasing time lag or only used the location Knysna .

The events between June 17th and 23rd

Raymond Domenech (behind him: Jean-Pierre Escalettes)

Nicolas Anelka (2010)

The trigger was a dispute between trainer Raymond Domenech and the attacker Nicolas Anelka : During the half-time break of the still goalless World Cup preliminary round match against Mexico on the evening of June 17, Domenech asked Anelka to better fit into the tactical scheme , a more offensive role in the middle of the storm to take, to try more actively for balls and finally to shoot at the opponent's goal. The player, who is considered difficult, then criticized the coach violently and probably with words below the belt, although the fact as such is not disputed - Anelka herself frankly admitted it to FFF President Jean-Pierre Escalettes and the press - but she did the exact wording of his insult . Thereupon Domenech, who subsequently downplayed this dialogue as a “normal change of words” (mots de vestiaire) , replaced Anelka with André-Pierre Gignac at the restart of the game . However, the game was lost 2-0, which - after a weak opening game (0-0 against Uruguay ) - significantly worsened the reigning vice world champions' chances of advancing.

On June 19, the French sports newspaper l'Équipe published the incident on the front page. Later that day, the federation president demanded a public apology from the striker , who admitted he had “done something stupid” but declined the demand; Escalettes then decided to send him home immediately. 24 hours later - two days before the match against the hosts  , which was decisive for the French advancement - the team refused to complete a scheduled training "out of solidarity with Anelka", instead stayed in the bus and later only got out to sign autographs to give. The statement on this strike, written by midfielder Jérémy Toulalan , was not read by one of the signatories - François Manardo, the press spokesman for the national team, also refused to read a “document directed against [his] employer” -; Rather, this was done by one of those against whom the action was directed, namely Domenech. This led France Football to the front page headline “French national team - dead on the field of dishonor” (Equipe de France - morte au champ du déshonneur) on June 22nd . The published opinion in France was almost unanimous: "Striking millionaires had kidnapped a bus and taken the blue jersey hostage in order to enforce their particular interests". At a meeting with the players on June 21, the minister responsible for sport, Roselyne Bachelot , even spoke of a “moral disaster” (désastre moral) , for which no one involved should receive a cent in bonuses.

After Patrice Evra , who had been named team captain before the start of the tournament , dealt almost exclusively with the question of who the "traitor" or the "submarine" who had passed on the inside of the cabin, and he the fitness trainer , at a press conference Robert Duverne suspected that only Domenech's energetic intervention on the training ground could prevent fights between these two.

On June 22nd, the Bleus were also defeated by South Africa's eleven and started their journey home the next morning. On the day of her return to France, a high-profile politicians' group, consisting of Prime Minister François Fillon , Minister of Sport Bachelot, their State Secretary Rama Yade and the Presidential Secretary General Claude Guéant , met under the leadership of President Nicolas Sarkozy to deal with the incidents. They raised u. a. the demand to convene the “ General Estates of Football” in the near future to deal with all problems in the area of ​​responsibility of the FFF. Sarkozy then received the former team captain Thierry Henry, who had just returned to France, for a one-to-one conversation in the Élysée Palace , which was at least used by the opposition as a diversion from domestic political problems - at the same time, a large demonstration against the government's pension plans took place in Paris . was branded.

The scandal in the French team quarters: Only the tip of the iceberg

State Secretary Yade

For the French and international press, these events were merely the consequence of a development that in the "Domenech era" (took office in 2004) had not only been sporting since the European Championship in 2008 , when France was also eliminated with just one point after the group stage , had taken off and was heading towards its lowest point in 2009/10. This manifested itself in a troublesome World Cup qualification despite the not very strong group opponents , which could also only be secured via the detour of the barrage against Ireland - and then only an illegal goal after Henry's handball cleared the way to South Africa. There were also winless and goalless friendlies against stronger ones (Argentina 0-2, Uruguay 0-0, Spain 0-2, Nigeria 0-1) as well as weak performances in the preparation games against at best second-rate opponents (Costa Rica 2-1, Tunisia 1: 1, Chinese youngsters 0: 1). UEFA President Michel Platini was not alone in his opinion that one could not expect any special performances from the Bleus at this tournament because France simply does not currently have “a large generation of players” like those of 1958, 1984 or 1998. Several of the 1998 world champions, such as Didier Deschamps , Bixente Lizarazu , Zinédine Zidane and Frank Lebœuf, struck a similar notch . The latter also fundamentally questioned the structures in contemporary French football up to and including the training of young talent, which was once considered exemplary across Europe, because it tends to involve “robots and not lateral thinkers”.

Since June 2010, even for Knysna, marginal events had to serve as indicators of such a fundamental problem, such as the participation of national players in the "prostitute affair" or the polemic expressed by State Secretary Yade about the selection of a luxury resort in South Africa with room prices between 550 and € 1050 per day in times of financial crisis . Likewise, the initial refusal of players to visit the former township of Sam de Bos, understood as a sign of excessive detachment of the high-earning stars from the social problems of the world , was placed in this context - an action that Éric Abidal with the presence of State Secretary Yade had justified, against whose criticism of the quarter the team wanted to set an example. The same applied to Domenech's refusal to shake hands with South Africa's coach Carlos Alberto Parreira after the final whistle of the last preliminary round and doping allegations flared up again . All in all, around three quarters of the French respondents were in favor of the team returning immediately before the game against South Africa.

Finger pointing

The published criticism was mainly directed against three groups of stakeholders.

Allegations to the coach

In terms of sport, coach Domenech was allegedly unsuitable and, due to their frequent changes - which were partly required by the short-term injury-related loss of midfielder Lassana Diarra - not "established" tactics such as experimenting with the 4-1-4-1 or 4- 3-3 - instead of the usual 4-2-3-1 system, which would correspond to his Clausewitzian “understanding of football as a battle”. Just before the start of the tournament, goalkeeper Hugo Lloris cautiously expressed his fears with “We are looking for ourselves”; Bixente Lizarazu called the tactic change “sheer madness”, and Michel Platini diagnosed “a Raymond problem”. The preparation was also not optimally planned because the French squad lived after a week's altitude training at over 2000 m in Knysna at sea level, although two of their group games were again held at a good 1300 m. In addition, between May 18 and the arrival in South Africa on June 5, it was permanently on the move with air travel to northern France , Tunisia and La Réunion for the preparatory games. Other points of criticism against the coach were his lack of access to the players, to whom he was at the same time too indulgent, his penchant for astrology , which was expressed in personal surprises in the selection of the squad (e.g. the failure to consider Benzema , Nasri and Vieira for South Africa) should, plus his distance to sports journalists, which has been growing for years. His partnership with the long-time M6 sports presenter Estelle Denis , which has been in place since 2004 , and Domenech's way of " making it public" (2008 marriage proposal on television), were also discussed again. Most of these allegations, however, were not new, but had been raised repeatedly since 2008 at the latest, also in the specialist magazines l'Équipe and France Football, most recently in 2009 in the run-up to two votes by FFF committees on the early termination of Domenech's contract.

Domenech's player selection for South Africa also earned him criticism from the political side: Immigration Minister Éric Besson complained that he had not nominated a single player with Maghrebian roots. With this, Besson gave food, if only implicitly, to the accusation that the trainer had latent reservations about the social group of the Beurs . Domenech, himself the son of a Spanish political refugee, made a large number of footballers of different origins and skin colors into national players during his tenure, including the three Benzema, Nasri and Ben Arfa explicitly named by Besson . After Knysna, however, even his successes - under his leadership the French won 41 games, played 24 draws and lost only 14 games - "reinterpreted"; An example of this is the vice world championship title from 2006 , which was now regarded as a “positive exception”, which was also less due to Domenech than to Zidane's masterly performance.

Allegations to the players

Franck Ribery

Yoann Gourcuff

Six ringleaders were identified among the selected players, namely Anelka, Toulalan, captain Evra, his deputy Franck Ribéry , who allegedly suffered overconfidence , Abidal due to his refusal to play the last group game, and, in a supporting role, the weakly form, whether his Non-nomination for team captain insulted William Gallas . These "little bosses" had engaged in massive bullying against Yoann Gourcuff , Lloris and initially also Toulalan, who were considered by some of their colleagues to be "intellectual outsiders" , and tried to drive off Gourcuff in particular, who actually had to sit on the bench in the Mexico game. The rest of the teammates - including the respected Thierry Henry - let this happen and did not object to the training boycott. Abou Diaby explained the behavior of the players in retrospect by stating that Knysna was “completely cut off from the realities”, and only after his return did he notice that “the people in France were talking about nothing else” - a reason that For example, Domenech's successor Laurent Blanc qualified as an excuse because “nobody prevented those involved from using their own mind”. The French journalists Eugène Saccomano and Gilles Verdez give another explanation for the escalation: The solidarity with Anelka is due to an explosive mixture of peer pressure and the fact that almost all players - for different reasons - are dissatisfied with Domenech's personal nature and that of him created system. The striker only said what they felt, albeit in different words. This was confirmed by Alain Simon, the team doctor: In the seclusion of the team hotel, the players complained about every little thing "in a somewhat infantile, immature way" and made Domenech responsible for everything. In retrospect, Laurent Blanc stated that it was crucial for the escalation that there were no “real personalities” among the players who were able to “deal with problems internally without damaging the collective”.

Both the players and the association were accused of having made extremely far-reaching and costly agreements regarding the presence of the players' wives and friends (and some of their children): They were not only in the Tunisian training camp in Sousse for days as well in Knysna guests of the FFF, but flew from South Africa between the first two appearances of their men on a short shopping trip to New York  - all at the expense of the football association, for which President Escalettes personally agreed to this de facto "dictation of the 23 internationals" because it is a "tradition".

Allegations to the association

The top of the association, in particular Escalettes, responded neither in good time nor adequately - with regard to the personal consequences of Anelka's verbal injurie as well as with regard to the subsequent processing of the incidents: The announcement that an association investigation commission would be set up was not made until July 16. Almost without exception, their own responsibility was rejected, including by other members of the FFF Presidium and the Direction Technique Nationale (DTN) , such as its head Gérard Houllier . Only Jean-Louis Valentin, deputy director of the FFF in South Africa, who with tears in his eyes described it as a "shame" during the players' strike, flew back to Paris and declared his resignation there, reacted immediately. In addition, the FFF - there the question of an early termination of the coaching contract was the subject of two votes (October and December 2009), in each of which an overwhelming majority voted for the continued work of the Domenech Sélectionneurs - held on to Domenech for too long, at the same time, his successor has been publicly sought since January and his position vis-à-vis the players has been weakened. These allegations resulted in demands for personnel, but also fundamental structural changes within the FFF. Even Frederic Thiriez , president of the professional league association LFP , saw substantial need for change at all levels: "French football is a victim of his coterie  - the players, the officials and the referees. We saw it in South Africa. "

The fact that, for example, parts of the media also contributed to the dismantling of the trainer for many months and also offered the " frondeurs " an uncritical stage for their apologies on television was less the focus of the reporting.

What were Anelka's words actually?

The wording of Anelka's remark to Domenech has been controversial so far; Just three days after its publication, ex-national coach Aimé Jacquet asked himself in a France Soir article: “Did Anelka really say what the press reported?” Saccomano and Verdez, who reported from South Africa for RTL , have a longer question Section in her book dedicated to Le roman noir des Bleus . In it, they quote from their research after the incident, in which they spoke to those directly involved (players, supervisors and officials, if they wanted to answer at all), but also with colleagues and written sources such as the tweeted messages from UMP MP Lionel Tardy about the Hearing in the Sports Committee of the National Assembly on June 30, 2010.

Two days after the Mexico game, Anelka put words in the mouth of l'Équipe in a photomontage on the front page that caused shock in France: “Va te faire enculer, sale fils de pute” , literally translated “Let yourself in Fuck your ass, you dirty son of a bitch ”; a corresponding transfer would be, for example, "Fuck you on the knee, ...". Le Parisien confirmed the first part of the quote, but with the continuation "..., toi et ton système" ("you and your system"). The official minutes of the hearing before the FFF Disciplinary Commission in August 2010 quoted the testimony of assistant coach Alain Boghossian with "Va te faire enculer avec ton équipe, fais l'équipe que tu veux" ("... together with your team, make the team so, as you wish"). Thierry Henry, who said he sat particularly close to the fighting and was one of the few people in the dressing room to hear the argument at all, claimed that the words mentioned in the press had not been uttered; he does not want to reproduce the actual formulation. President Escalettes, too, on June 19, citing a conversation with Domenech, described the published version as “of this tenor, but not in exactly these words”. According to Domenech's testimony in the investigative committee, however, the insult was "even harder" and involved his mother ("Enculé de ta mère") . Other respondents had understood this similarly, but less so below the belt, namely “Enculé de tes morts” , an Argot phrase with which young people in the suburbs drastically draw older people's attention to their imminent death. The two journalists also got to hear the version “Va te faire foutre avec ton système de merde” (broadcast about “Piss off your shit system”).

Saccomano and Verdez take it as certain that Anelka “turned away from Domenech's first address and scolded him” - as Henry put it - as he often does; When the trainer continued to talk to him, Anelka had given him "without the most elementary behavior" against. In view of their research, the authors consider that he uttered the insults alleged by l'Équipe in this wording as "highly unlikely". Anelka also described Domenech in his autobiography, published shortly before the World Cup, as the one of the four French national coaches in his career with whom he got along best. He was only able to talk calmly with him and listen to his explanations because he “understood that I am not a bastard”. The thesis of Paris Match would fit this more differentiated view , according to which Anelka is said to have tried to talk to Domenech in private the day after his affront, which Domenech refused. However, there are also contradicting perceptions, according to which the coach explicitly asked the players: “Anyone who has something to tell me can come to me; I will listen to it ”.

Anelka himself repeated in a long interview he gave France Soir after the book went to print that these were not his words. However, he did not provide the actual wording of his reply; Instead, he would welcome it if Domenech “had the honesty to admit the truth about it to the world” and “repeat it to his mother”. At the end of September 2010, L'Équipe published a book ("L'Équipe, Geschichte eines Knüllers"), in which their two chief reporters report how it was - on site in South Africa, but also in the editorial office in Paris - to the headline from 19 June came and “the first rumors turned into real news”. The newspaper relied on the statements of "three witnesses who were very close to the players ... as well as two people present in the dressing room".

Developments since summer 2010

Politics and association autonomy

Minister of Sport Bachelot

From July 2010 onwards, French politics ceased to speak publicly about Knysna after, for example, President Sarkozy had previously made demands to resign from the top of the association, Education Minister Luc Chatel complained about the catastrophic role model effect of all those involved and two members of parliament asked for a parliamentary committee of inquiry to be set up. At a national assembly debate on June 23, Minister Bachelot spoke of an FFF that had let itself be cornered by “immature gang leaders (caïds immaturés) [and] a helpless and unauthorized trainer”. Years later, she confirmed that Sarkozy had taken care of the events in Knysna permanently in the summer of 2010 and had asked her personally: "Fly over there, talk to them and make a mess of them!" Because he feared a considerable loss of image for the country. Bachelot's State Secretary Yade said that the scandal must be followed by a big bang - in other words, a big bang after the noise. On June 30th, Parliament's Sports Committee held a hearing between Escalettes and Domenech. This interference was also criticized in France, partly for domestic and party political reasons; For example, the (not only football) historian Alfred Wahl spoke of a "state interventionism that has not existed in France since the time of the Vichy regime ". Its termination was likely to have been promoted mainly by the fact that FIFA wrote a letter from General Secretary Jérôme Valcke on June 26th demanding that the autonomy of the FFF be respected. Only a little later, FIFA President Joseph Blatter followed up - as he did with the Nigerian Association at the same time  - and pointed out the possibility under the statutes of political interference in association matters to impose severe sanctions on football there (suspension of membership rights, ban on international club and selection matches) to pronounce - "no matter how small or big the country is".

In the course of a government reshuffle in mid-November 2010, Roselyne Bachelot had to hand over responsibility for sport to Chantal Jouanno ; Since then, Rama Yade has no longer been State Secretary. However, Knysna does not play a central role in the media for either personnel change. At the end of January 2011, the new minister was the first cabinet member to take a public position on the issue and expressed her lack of understanding that “Evra and Ribéry, as leaders of the Fronde in South Africa, could be accepted back into the national team… You cannot shame France first and then want to play for France's national team again ”.

The association

Chronology of personnel impact and changes (dates for 2010 unless otherwise noted)
Jean-Louis Valentin (Deputy FFF General Director)	Resignation (June 22nd); Successor: André Prévosto
Jean-Pierre Escalettes (FFF President)	Resignation (June 28, still executive in office until July 23 ); Successor: Fernand Duchaussoy (interim), since June 18, 2011 Noël Le Graët
Raymond Domenech (national coach)	Contract expired (June 30); Termination of DTN membership by the FFF (September 3); Successor: Laurent Blanc
Pierre Mankowski (1st assistant coach)	Contract expired (June 30); Successor: Jean-Louis Gasset
Thierry Henry (player)	Announcement of his resignation from the national team (July 15)
Nicolas Anelka (player)	Suspension for 18 international matches (August 17)
Patrice Evra (player)	Suspension for 5 international matches (August 17th, confirmed September 9th); only taken into account again in March 2011
Franck Ribéry (player)	Suspension for 3 international matches (August 17); only taken into account again in March 2011
Jérémy Toulalan (player)	Ban for 1 international match (August 17); not taken into account even afterwards (a)
Gérard Houllier (DTN chairman)	Resignation (announcement on 7th, completed on 24th September); Successor: François Blaquart ( suspended at the beginning of May 2011 due to the " quota affair ")
Guillaume Bigot (mental trainer)	Hiring after the creation of a new position with the national team (October 5)
Jacques Lambert (FFF General Director)	Resignation due to trends towards more centralized decision-making structures under Duchaussoy (November 26); Successor: Alain Resplandy-Bernard
Lilian Thuram (FFF Federal Council member)	Resignation (announcement on December 16)
(a) due to missing shape

On July 23, Fernand Duchaussoy replaced Escalettes, who resigned on June 28, as association president, but initially only on an interim basis until June 2011. He announced the establishment of an investigative commission of the FFF and advocated the exclusion of Domenech from the DTN . According to a first commission report, three players are said to have named coach Domenech as the one who passed on the information about the cabin dispute with Anelka to a journalist friend; Domenech himself denies this, however.

Further personnel changes in the association concerned the DTN. At the beginning of September 2010, the FFF Domenech announced his well-paid, permanent position. This was justified in particular with "his behavior at the World Cup ... such as the refused handshake with Carlos Alberto Parreira and the handling of the Anelka matter". A few days later, DTN chairman Gérard Houllier announced his resignation, which, however, was not related to Knysna, but because he had accepted a position as a manager at the British first division Aston Villa . His successor, François Blaquart, was initially only appointed until the end of the year.

The Federal Council of the FFF decided on August 6 to summon five ringleaders - Patrice Evra, Franck Ribéry, Jérémy Toulalan, Éric Abidal and Nicolas Anelka, as well as Escalettes, Domenech and his coaching staff - to appear before the disciplinary committee; this met on August 17th (see below, “The Players”) . A collective resignation of all Federal Council members - as requested by the meeting of FFF district presidents - was rejected by the committee at the end of September “for reasons of time”. On 28/29 In October, the “General Estates of Football”, an extraordinary assembly of the FFF, met and discussed three topics prepared by a steering group of 13: the modernization of association structures, competitiveness and solidarity as well as the social and civic role of French football. The results and suggestions of the congress were discussed further on November 12th by the meeting of district and league chairpersons and on December 18th by the FFF Federal Assembly. With regard to the electoral modes and decision-making structures as well as the leadership problems that have come to light in Knysna, the General Estates of football have passed far-reaching demands that are intended to define responsibilities more clearly and enable more transparency and participation rights for the “grassroots”. In addition, an increase in the influence of professional sport by increasing the proportion of votes from 25 to 37%, which enables a blocking minority , was intended at the expense of amateur sport. All changes to this set of measures, known as Gouvernance du football français (“governance of French football”), were finally adopted by another federal assembly on April 2, 2011. On June 18, 2011, on the basis of the new statutes, the FFF President was also elected, in which Noël Le Graët prevailed over incumbent Duchaussoy.
In the course of this restructuring, there were individual further resignations in November / December - for example by FFF Director General Jacques Lambert and Federal Council member Lilian Thuram - which are said to have been at most an indirect consequence of the events in South Africa.

In addition to the loss of reputation, the association also has to accept considerable financial losses, which further deepen the million-dollar gap in calculated income (bonuses from FIFA and sponsors) that resulted from the early departure in South Africa. Because several supporters of the national team had even demanded compensation: Adidas said it had stuck on around 180,000 jerseys, others like Carrefour and GDF Suez saw their image damaged. They want to adhere to the existing sponsorship contracts, but renegotiate a success-based system of bonus and malus payments for the years up to 2014 . At the end of September, the FFF reimbursed its main sponsors for compensation for the damage suffered a total of € 4.5 million and two weeks later also accepted their demands for performance-related payments. As a result , FFF closed the 2009/10 financial year with a pre-tax loss of € 2.9 million.

The clubs affiliated to the FFF experienced a massive drop in membership in the second half of 2010 - in the order of 190,000, corresponding to around 8% of the population - which is regarded as a direct effect of the loss of reputation as a result of the events in Knysna. In particular, active adults and voluntary functionaries have resigned; in the youth sector and especially among the youngest age groups, on the other hand, the number of members has at least remained constant. Contrary to the trend, there was only a slight increase among girls and women. This development continued in the next year; by the beginning of October 2011, the FFF had recorded a further decline of 7%.

The FFF tried to counter the feared decline in audience interest with a sympathy campaign; on posters and in full-page advertisements ("The failure will stay in your mind forever, the mistakes will not be forgotten, the rebuilding is not finished - but you have to win a game and wear our jersey.") she promoted the European Championship qualifier against Belarus on September 3rd and also put a good 10,000 tickets for sale for only € 10 each. Since September 2010, all national players have had to sign and follow a new, 30-page code of conduct with penalties, which also deals with language regulations for interviews or clothing issues.

The fact that the FFF is still struggling with its own share of this low point, even from a long time lag behind Knysna, is shown by its mention in a book it edited and published in October 2011 on the history of French football. The events in South Africa are only indicated in two half-sentences as “both sporty and catastrophic for the image” or “sporty and moral failure”.

The players

Patrice Evra

Jérémy Toulalan

On July 15, Thierry Henry announced that he would only play for his club in the future, but no longer for the Bleus . The 32-year-old, who had scored 51 goals in 123 international A matches, was the last active world champion in 1998. He had only lost his regular place and the position of team captain immediately before the World Cup. However, his intention to resign had already been determined before Knysna.

The main players from Knysna were expelled from the national team by the FFF Disciplinary Committee on August 17, 2010: Anelka for 18, Evra for five, Ribéry for three and Toulalan for an A international match. Abidal got away with impunity because Domenech had let his players decide whether they felt strong enough to play against South Africa. The judgments against Ribéry (had canceled due to lack of approval by his club for this date) and Anelka (absent without excuse) were made in their absence. In an initial statement, the players' union UNFP pointed out that the main people responsible for Knysna were to be found in the association and had not yet been punished. France Football argued in a similar way, which also complained that the resigned Escalettes continued to sit on the FFF Federal Council. UEFA President Platini, however, announced after a few months that he had banned the leaders of the strike for life.

All 23 players and the coaching staff had, with their verbal consent, previously canceled the payments agreed in advance of the World Cup for their use in South Africa (€ 165,000 per person). In autumn, however, a number of players refused to sign a corresponding waiver because they claimed they were entitled to at least the part of the bonuses that relates to the successful World Cup qualification. After this incident became known, the new team captain Alou Diarra stated that the players did not want the money for themselves, but to donate it to charity . The FFF accepted this a few days later and made this available to the amateur sector around € 3 million. For President Duchaussoy, the previous irritations were exclusively a problem of certain media based on “incomplete and erroneous assumptions”; he also hoped that Raymond Domenech would follow suit. On the part of the players, all waivers were available at Christmas 2010 - only Nicolas Anelka insisted on receiving the bonus first and then donating it to youth and social projects of his choice.

At the end of 2010, not a single French player had made it into the shortlist for the award as the world's best footballer of the year - for the first time since 1995. Knysna also played a role in the selection of France's footballer of the year 2010; several jurors provided their vote with the express reference that no member of the World Cup squad deserved to be honored. This led to the fact that with Samir Nasri a player was chosen who had not been there in South Africa.

A good six months apart, the French public took a differentiated look at the main participants, as a representative survey carried out in mid-January 2011 showed. When asked whether the respective player should be considered for the national team again, the French were most willing to award Éric Abidal (35% for, 27% against) and Jérémy Toulalan (34:25); however, there were still considerable reservations about Patrice Evra (27:37) and Nicolas Anelka (22:51). With regard to Franck Ribéry, the opinion was divided, with the total of all respondents the rejection (32:43), but the subgroup of those who describe themselves as very interested in football, the approval (62:36) outweighed. From the fact that a significant proportion of respondents - between 25 and 41% - did not want to take a clear position on any of the five players, France Football concluded that the uproar had reduced interest in football overall. Ribéry and Evra's return to this group had sparked heated controversy in both sports and political media nine months after Knysna; When he was substituted on March 29, 2011 against Croatia , the Bayern player had to endure a violent whistling concert at the Stade de France , which he described as a "normal reaction".

Another representative survey in September 2011 showed the sustainability of the negative effects of the events in Knysna. When asked which player most likely embodies the positive values ​​associated with the national team, two players stood out by a large margin: Yoann Gourcuff was named by 25%, Hugo Lloris by 20% of all respondents. Karim Benzema (7%) was followed by another player who was not actively involved in the "mutiny in South Africa", while none of those who were primarily responsible at the time came to more than 4%. The reasons for the negative assessments were mainly “the behavior of the players” (38%), “the [current] level of play of the team” (22%) and “the athletic performance of the players” (18%).
Even at the end of April 2014 - in the immediate run-up to the World Cup  - a majority of French people still rated the image of the national team negatively, namely 54% of all football fans and almost two thirds (63%) of all adult citizens. Four years after South Africa, Lloris was by far the most respected of the current players, followed by Olivier Giroud , Mathieu Valbuena , Benzema and, as the only Knysna protagonist, Franck Ribéry.

The national team

This " annus horribilis tricolore" had a long-term, massive effect on the reputation of the national team and its personnel situation. In the FIFA world rankings of 14 July, France fell from 9th to 21st place due to its previous failures. After the first two games were lost under the new national coach Laurent Blanc, who has been in office since July 1, this trend initially continued (place 27 in September) before the Bleus were able to put a stop to it in October 2010 (place 18). Blanc was faced with demands that not only Anelka, but also other players "who were primarily responsible for the scandal" should be permanently removed from his list. He had complied to the extent that he had not nominated a single one of the 22 “training boycotters” for the first international match on August 11, 2010. However, he wanted to leave it to this one-time penalty, not to do without France's best footballer in view of the upcoming European Championship qualification and to draw a line as quickly as possible under the processing of the events in South Africa. Blanc was not alone with this demand; he hadn't even categorically ruled out Anelka's return. But then he only included ten World Cup participants in his 23-man squad for the competitive games in September and October and waived all convicts. He only used nine of them: Hugo Lloris, Gaël Clichy , Bacary Sagna , Anthony Réveillère , Florent Malouda , Abou Diaby, Alou Diarra, Mathieu Valbuena and Yoann Gourcuff. Éric Abidal also returned in November, and Evra and Ribéry in March 2011. He helped a total of twelve players to make their national team debut in the six games after the World Cup. Blanc Domenech's second assistant Alain Boghossian was the only member of the previous coaching staff. He also hired a mental coach for the first time in the history of the national team .

At the start of the Ligue 1 season at the beginning of August 2010, there were practically no whistles and other expressions of displeasure on the part of the spectators when the "Mutineers of Knysna" were presented before the start of the game. However, Olympique Marseille , Olympique Lyon and FC Toulouse also played in front of their home crowd. The newly formed national team received "almost unexpected support" and "standing ovations" from over 76,000 spectators at their first home game in early September; only at the end of the game did they whistle the team for its again disappointing performance.

Whether the growing media interest in other French national teams than the men's eleven continues or is only of short-term, success-dependent duration - the youth A team won the European championship in July , the women (les Bleues) qualified for the 2011 World Cup in September , where they were very successful - will also have to be found out. Eleven months after Knysna, however, the average attendance in Ligue 1 had fallen below the 20,000 mark for the first time since 2000; a total of around 130,000 visitors paid less entry than in the season before Knysna.

Coach Laurent Blanc, however, is not affected by the persistently bad image of the national team (see the chapter directly above) . In the survey from September 2011 cited there, 74% of all respondents and even 88% of those who say they are particularly interested in football rated him a good or very good job.

Legal disputes

Knysna was kept in the public consciousness even longer in the ordinary courts. Nicolas Anelka had already announced a lawsuit against l'Équipe in the summer of 2010 because the sentence on the front page of Domenech on June 19 was not in this wording during the half-time break of the Mexico game; The process was originally supposed to start in autumn 2010. In mid-May 2011 he asked the newspaper for compensation of 150,000 euros for defamation. On July 1, 2011, a Paris court dismissed all of Anelka's claims; the player has waived an appeal against this decision.

Another legal dispute arose after the FFF could not agree with Raymond Domenech about the termination of his position at the Direction Technique Nationale . President Duchaussoy had initially relied on a “mutual divorce” (divorce non penible) , since the termination without notice was “at the limit in terms of labor law” and was also prepared to pay a severance payment ; At the beginning of November these negotiations failed. In a first step, Domenech then sought the establishment of his entitlement to three annual salaries (around € 2.9 million) and the € 165,000 in World Cup bonuses through the joint labor arbitration committee (Conseil de prud'hommes) ; the latter had postponed a first arbitration hearing, scheduled for April 2011, to 2012. This conflict was settled in August 2011 through a final, out-of-court settlement that Duchaussoy's successor Le Graët had pushed; then the ex-trainer received € 975,000 gross from the association and in return declared his claims to have been satisfied. For France Football, this was the price that the FFF had to pay for the "carelessness" that it had shown towards the "great architect of Knysna" in relation to labor law issues immediately after returning from South Africa. At the end of 2011, Domenech donated € 150,000 of this to two amateur clubs and a charitable organization.

Likewise, the four players convicted by the disciplinary committee had the option to go to court , first before the appeal committee of the football association, then before the Comité National Olympique et Sportif Français (CNOSF) and then, if necessary, before a civil court. Patrice Evra was the only one to take action against his suspension; On September 9, 2010, the Appeals Committee confirmed his 5-game ban because he, as team captain, had not done justice to his special role. At the end of October he had refrained from further legal action and wanted to wear the blue jersey again after the ban had expired; this was also the case in March 2011.

To designate the events

A uniform name for the events in the summer of 2010 has not been established even a year later. Depending on the context, the media and books often mentioned "failure" ( échec - primarily with regard to the game results and the achievements shown), "mutiny" or "scandal" ( mutinerie or éclat - mainly in connection with the training boycott ), " Shipwreck ” (naufrage), “ catastrophe ” (catastrophe, cataclysme), “ shame ” (honte) or“ scandal ”( scandale - more for the summary characterization of the events). With increasing time lag, the French media described these events predominantly as a Knysna fiasco or even exclusively used this location. A neutral designation like les événements ("the events") remained rather the exception.

Even in mid-June 2020, on the tenth anniversary of these events, numerous media in France remembered this dark point of the national team, not only the specialist magazines France Football and L'Équipe, but also regional and national daily newspapers such as Sud Ouest , Nice-Matin or Le Parisien .

Knysna - also the end of a social misconception?

The events in South Africa have sparked a renewed debate about whether the image that has been spread for a decade of an integrative, homogeneous French society, which is also reflected in the national team with its players of very different origins and skin colors, was just an illusion. The neologism “black-blanc-beur” (“black, white, Maghrebian”) used for this, in a playful manner based on the colors of the national flag (bleu-blanc-rouge) , arose in 1998 in the context of the World Cup, which was much more positive for France . Black stands for those from the francophone parts of Black Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, blanc for the fair-skinned and beur for people of Arab-Muslim origin who were born in France. The term has even found its way into contemporary history and sociological publications. Saccomano and Verdez ask whether this was reality or a myth that could more easily form on the crest of the waves of success (“Triumph has been ethnicified”) and now, in a trough of waves, to be in On the contrary, wrong: "Does Knysna show that there is a ' black power ' or a 'power of the suburbs', that is, that society is more likely to separate itself ?" Discussion on the question of the national identity of France and the French.

In June 2010 , Malek Boutih , a board member of the Socialist Party , was one of the first to introduce the position that Knysna had also shown an existing rift between the French ethnic groups. All the players feel that they are French - in the sense of French citizenship  - but at no point have given the impression that “they represent the same nation together ”. This is at the same time a general problem of society and the state, whose institutions enjoy little authority, especially among the younger generations from the lower classes, from which many footballers come, as the violent unrest that has flared up in the suburbs for years has shown. The philosopher Alain Finkielkraut formulated more sharply, who assessed the revolt of the players as a “victory of the subculture of the suburbs over urban civilization” and saw in it an image of society as a whole - “individualistic, divided, ghettoized”. In an interview with rapper Booba for the December 2010 issue of Les inRockuptibles magazine, Nicolas Anelka accused: “If we don't win, people in France immediately talk about religion and skin color. ... [Then] Gourcuff is the good French, Ribéry the Muslim ”.

Objections came from both the conservative side - State Secretary Fadela Amara categorically rejected the fact that the conflicts in South Africa had run along ethnic borders, especially since the 2010 team also included Muslims but no Beurs - and from organizations such as SOS Racisme , whose chairman Dominique Sopo lamented a widespread loss of values, independent of social and ethnic backgrounds, and a "general decline in civic consciousness " (effondrement de la conscience citoyenne) as the cause. Even Jean-Pierre Le Goff , a sociologist at the Center national de la recherche scientifique made, "by no means a problem of skin color" for the "psychodrama of the national team" responsible; rather, he recognized in it the "profound upheaval in the conditions of growing up" which had gripped the entire French and many other European societies. For about 30 years, family and school upbringing have promoted a type of socialization that is narcissistic and therefore has increasing difficulties in internalizing models such as community and hierarchical structures. Instead, he is fascinated by the “model of unrestricted individual performance”, but at the same time his “ affective weakness” stands in the way.

The fact that these developments have come to light in South Africa of all places , the state of a “rainbow nation” that has freed itself from the “fumes of apartheid ”, and that the national players of African descent are no exception, is - according to Dominique Sopo - an additional annoyance.

The aftermath: the "quota affair"

In spring 2011, the topic found its way back into public discussion after a website (mediapart.fr) published the transcript and recordings of a DTN meeting on November 8, 2010. Several national coaches , including Laurent Blanc, Éric Mombaerts , Bruno Bini and Houllier's successor François Blaquart, demanded a maximum quota for footballers with dual nationalities in the training centers in order to counter the trend that a significant proportion of these - predominantly "Blacks “With family roots in sub-Saharan Africa  - although he played in the French national teams as a youngster, they then opted for the A-Elf of their home country as adults. For example, seven players in the Algerian World Cup 2010 squad also had French citizenship; In the youth and junior national teams of France (U-16 to U-21), the proportion of dual citizens in the 2010/11 season was between 35 (in the U-20) and 49 (U-19) with an average of 43 Percent. At this meeting, a number of statements were heard which the media and politics described as xenophobic or racist after they became known; Mombaerts, for example, were quoted as saying “We work for French football, not for foreign football” and Blanc as “The tall, robust, powerful [players are] the blacks”. The FFF then formed a commission of inquiry, suspended Blaquart for the time being and convened an extraordinary meeting of the Federal Council for May 12, 2011, which did not, however, decide on any concrete consequences. The association and Minister of Sport Jouanno later confirmed that this issue had been discussed, but it was not intended to introduce such a quota system.

literature

(in the chronological order of their publication; in brackets after them: title translation into German)

• Pierre Ménès: Carton rouge pour les bleus. Ed. du Rocher, Monaco 2010, ISBN 978-2-268-07033-9 ("Red card for the blue.")
• Serge Raffy: Dans la tete de Raymond. Chronique d'un naufrage. Plon, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-259-21311-0 ("In Raymond's head. Chronicle of a shipwreck.")
• Jean-Michel Larqué : Les secrets d'un fiasco. Ed. du Toucan, Boulogne 2010, ISBN 978-2-8100-0389-1 ("The secrets of a fiasco.")
• Bénita Rolland, Franck Spengler, Louis Orlowski, Roland de Linares: Plus jamais ça! L'échec des Bleus. Hugo & C ^ie ., Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-7556-0664-5 ("Never again something like that! The failure of the blues.")
• Eugène Saccomano / Gilles Verdez: Le roman noir des Bleus. Ed. de la Martinière, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-7324-4438-3 ("The ' Roman noir (black novel) ' of the blues.")
• Vincent Duluc: Le livre noir des Bleus. Chronique d'un désastre annoncé. Robert Laffont, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-221-12320-1 ("The Black Book of the Blue. Chronicle of a disaster announced.")
• Damien Degorre / Raphaël Raymond: L'Équipe, Histoire d'un scoop. Ed. L'Équipe, Issy-les-Moulineaux 2010, ISBN 978-2-915535-98-3 ("L'Équipe, History of a Knüllers.")
• Bruno Godard: Domenech. Histoires secrètes d'une imposture. JC Gawsewitch, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-35013-208-2 ("Domenech. Secret stories of an impostor.")
• Stéphane Beaud (with Philippe Guimard): Traîtres à la nation? Un autre regard sur la grève des Bleus en Afrique du Sud. Ed. La Découverte, Paris 2011, ISBN 978-2-7071-6716-3 ("Traitor to the nation? Another look at the Bleus strike in South Africa.")
• Rayan Ouamara: Le poids de Knysna ou L'illusion du mal des banlieues. L'Harmattan, Paris 2013, ISBN 978-2-343-01670-2 ("The burden of Knysna, or the illusion of the evil of the suburbs.")
• François Manardo: Knysna. Arènes Éd., Paris 2014, ISBN 978-2-3520-4330-0 ( "Knysna." With the additional publisher's subtitle "In the center of the Bleus disaster in South Africa." )

Notes and evidence

1. ↑ See pars pro toto the editorial “Oublier Knysna” in France Football Spécial: Guide de la Saison 2010-11 , Supplément Le guide de la Ligue 1 2010-11 , p. 3, published on August 3, 2010. As early as July 2010 several books appeared exclusively on this topic (see the chapter on literature ).
2. ↑ see for example the chapter "Les années Sarkozy" in Anne T. Bouchet: La France de la Cinquième République. Seuil / Éd. Sciences Humaines, Auxerre 2013, ISBN 978-2-3610-6040-4 , in particular pp. 249, 260f. and 277f.
3. ^ At a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Medvedev , President Sarkozy also answered questions about the events in South Africa. - Kicker Sportmagazin / Sven Simon: Soccer World Cup South Africa 2010. Reports - Analyzes - Comments. , Copress, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-7679-0966-3 , p. 27.
4. ↑ An overview of the different demands of UMP MPs can be found in the article “The UMP MPs draw the red card against the Bleus” from Le Parisien from June 23, 2010.
5. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 123f. and 119, lead u. a. Quotes from the Süddeutsche Zeitung (“ sinking of the Titanic , no survivors”) , El País (“France is outraged by France”) , The Times (“A wave of reluctance floods France”) and the Irish Examiner (“The last act of Miserable ") , which proved that" France had become the laughing stock of the whole world "and had even" surpassed "the equally disappointing Italians - the defending champion also had to return home without a win after the preliminary round. Further examples (including El Mundo , Corriere della Sera , The Sun ) are on this page ( Memento of the original from June 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. compiled. 
6. ↑ Denis Chaumier: Les Bleus. Tous les joueurs de l'équipe de France de 1904 à nos jours. , Larousse, o. O. 2004, ISBN 2-03-505420-6 , p. 18, already six years before Knysna described Anelka as the “enfant terrible of French football”, who in 2002 “turned his back on the national team with slamming doors "And had also waged a" permanent guerrilla war against the world of officials "at many of his clubs," talented in football, but stubborn and opinionated ".
7. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 59
8. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 47
9. ↑ Facsimile of the title page and article ( Memento of the original from June 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by l'Équipe, plus two articles from Le Monde and Spiegel-online , both also dated June 19, 2010  
10. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 60
11. ↑ Manardo, p. 160
12. ↑ cf. This article from l'Équipe ( Memento of the original from August 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; including a video with Domenech reading out the declaration of strike. The full text of the communiqué can be found on this page of TV5 , excerpts and translated into German on this video . 
13. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 93
14. ↑ Article ( Memento of the original from June 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from Le Monde , in a shorter version also in this article ( Memento of the original from June 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated June 24, 2010 from France Football; also in Saccomano / Verdez, p. 103. Serge Raffy, editor-in-chief of the Nouvel Observateur , calls the events in his book (see literature ) a “sporting and moral catastrophe” and a “shipwreck” (p. 9).  
15. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 25, and article from Kicker.de on Evra's press appearance
16. ↑ see this video , unfortunately without sound
17. ↑ Le Parisien published a "meticulous chronicle" of the events of these days in its online edition on the night of June 22nd to 23rd . An overview with photos of the most important stations can also be found in "Aufstand der Zicken" at ZEIT online (pages 1 to 8).
18. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, pp. 121/122
19. ↑ Article “Ignoring Domestic Political Problems” from Le Parisien, June 24, 2010
20. ↑ summarized, for example, in France Football of June 22, 2010, pp. 6-18; also Raffy, p. 10
21. ↑ Article on NZZ online
22. ↑ Raffy, p. 115ff. and 145; Saccomano / Verdez, p. 10
23. ↑ Platini- and Lebœuf quotes from the article “Nur noch Milchgesichter” in the Frankfurter Rundschau of September 6, 2010, p. S4
24. ↑ Article “How Zahia D. Ribéry ran into the offside” from the Basler Zeitung
25. ↑ Article “Yade finds the hotel of the Bleus 'undecent'” from Le Point ; The FFF had booked the entire Pezula Resort Hotel & Spa , an extremely exclusive, spacious 5-star hotel complex on the Indian Ocean (see also the hotel website ( Memento of the original from June 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ). 
26. ↑ Raffy, pp. 91f.
27. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 35; Article "When the Bleus Rama Yade let go" ( Memento of the original from June 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from June 14, 2010 from France Soir 
28. ↑ Raffy, pp. 157f .; According to Saccomano / Verdez, p. 110, Domenech answered a question before the Sports Committee of the National Assembly on June 30th about his reasons that South Africa's coach was negative about the circumstances of the French World Cup after the second playoff against Ireland in November 2009 I have expressed qualifications.
29. ↑ See, for example, the book published in August 2010 by the Bleus team doctor for many years , Jean-Pierre Paclet ( L'implosion , Michel Lafon), commented on in this article in the Basler Zeitung.
30. ↑ "France's World Cup scandal - ne va plus" at Spiegel online from June 21, 2010
31. ↑ see, for example, the commentary on the Costa Rica game ( memento of the original from May 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on France Football, which also repeatedly analyzed this aspect in its print editions, for example on June 8 (pp. 8–15) and June 15, 2010 (pp. 12–14). 
32. ↑ Raffy, p. 79ff., Assumes Domenech as strategic principles in particular “leaving the enemy in the dark” (gérer l'incertitude) and “flexible maneuvering” (courber l'échine , literally “bending the backbone” ) .
33. ↑ all three quotes from the Frankfurter Rundschau of June 10, 2010, p. S6 ("Dark clouds over Les Bleus")
34. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 24; for Jean-Michel Larqué (see under literature ) it was the "poorest World Cup preparation of the Bleus since 1954 ".
35. ↑ Raffy, p. 36ff.
36. ↑ Jean-Michel Aulas ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. for player selection  
37. ↑ see last "The good stars Domenechs" in France Football of June 1, 2010, p. 26
38. ↑ Article "Domenech's seven deadly sins" in France Football from June 22, 2010, p. 18, as well as this comparison ( Memento of the original from August 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. von Domenechs with Blancs press conferences 
39. ↑ see, for example, “Estelle didn't say yes!” On the Le Post website ; Raffy, p. 22
40. ↑ Article on the TF1 website
41. ↑ so Denis Chaumier, editorial director of France Football, in the print edition of June 27, 2010, pp. 40/41
42. ↑ Just Fontaine formulated this with the words “Ribéry was persuaded that he was the brain of the team until he believed it himself.” ( “On a fait croire à Ribéry qu'il était le cerveau de l'équipe et il a fini par le croire "  - France Football of June 22, 2010, p. 12). Escalettes described him as a "self-proclaimed vice-captain" (France Football of November 2, 2010, p. 6). France Football itself mocked that Ribéry could "obviously not be called the 'brain of the mutiny'"; rather, he had installed “a reign of nonsense” (une terreur crétine) in the team (France Football of June 29, 2010, p. 10). Ribéry's role in South Africa is assessed in a similar way by Saccomano / Verdez, p. 47: the Bayern player made "one demand after the other, devoid of any modesty".
43. ↑ France Football of June 22, 2010, p. 10; Gallas had also shown a journalist from the TV station TF1 the " finger finger " after the game against Mexico (see "Anelka flies out and home" from the taz on June 19, 2010). Concrete examples of how Gallas reacted over weeks to this “reset” - in fact Domenech had not even informed him personally of his decision - in Manardo, pp. 122–125.
44. ↑ According to Raffy, p. 106, L'Équipe was the first to use this designation, referring to Ribéry.
45. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 40, cite the driving forces alongside Ribéry v. a. the group of former or current Arsenal London players (e.g. Anelka, Gallas, Henry) as well as Abidal and Evra. The Bleus press officer at the time, François Manardo, names three almost identical groups of players who would have distinguished themselves from one another at a training camp in October 2008: Abidal, Henry, Ribéry, Anelka and Benzema, then Gallas, Evra and Sagna and finally Toulalan, Lloris and Gourcuff (Manardo, p. 78). Alain Boghossian, one of Domenech's assistants in South Africa, did not comment on the specific allegations of bullying, but described the team's internal climate in retrospect as "characterized by certain personal dislikes ... [and] hostilities" (see the interview with Boghossian ( Memento des Originals from October 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. France Football from September 30, 2010). 
46. ↑ France Football of June 22, 2010, pp. 7-8. According to Saccomano / Verdez, p. 47, Ribéry wanted to take Gourcuff's central midfield position and make room for Florent Malouda on the left . See also “Only emptiness in France” on Kicker.de from June 18, 2010.
47. ↑ France Football of August 31, 2010, p. 39 (interview with Diaby) and p. 10 (interview with Blanc)
48. ↑ Saccomano (* 1936) has been working as a sports journalist since the 1950s, initially for the daily newspaper La Provence in Nîmes and Marseille , then was, among other things, sports director at Europe 1 and developed the TV format “On refait le match” for RTL . Verdez wrote for L'Équipe as a reporter for many years, then held a senior position in the newsroom of the daily Le Parisien and has been Deputy Editor-in-Chief at France Soir since the end of 2009.
49. ↑ ^{a b} Saccomano / Verdez, p. 58
50. ↑ "A. Simon: Unreife Bleus “ ( Memento of the original from October 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at l'Équipe on October 12, 2010  
51. ↑ Interview with Blanc im Spiegel on October 11, 2010, p. 136
52. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, pp. 28/29, put the cost of the New York trip alone at € 240,000.
53. ^ Escalettes announcement on the FFF website
54. ↑ Vice President Noël Le Graët had even explicitly refused to go to South Africa after the Anelka insult became known: he should have looked after association sponsors and his club, EA Guingamp , in France . - France Football of June 22, 2010, p. 6 (report) and 11 (interview)
55. ↑ cf. Houllier's statement ( memento of the original of July 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. to corresponding allegations 
56. ↑ see this article ( Memento of the original from August 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Federal Council member Lilian Thuram was also exempted from the accusation of "playing himself dead" because he then asked numerous critical questions at least at the beginning of July and demanded comprehensive educational work from all those involved ("Thuram secoue la Fédération", France Football of 6 July 2010, p. 26/27). 
57. ↑ See for example the article  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from France Football online from December 18, 2009, the statements of FFF President Escalettes  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. about his favorites for Domenech's successor (including the announcement that “the name of the next coach will be announced before the World Cup” ), followed by the editorial by France Football, issue of April 20, 2010, p. 3, and the official announcement of the FFF on May 16, 2010 that the final negotiations with Laurent Blanc, who was favored to succeed Domenech and his former employer Girondins Bordeaux, would begin on the same day. According to the press spokesman for Bleus, concrete negotiations with Blanc and the Girondins had even been held since autumn 2009 (Manardo, p. 108ff.). For Saccomano / Verdez, p. 13, this is one of the main reasons for the rifts that openly came to light in Knysna.    
58. ↑ Article "The demands for resignation from Escalettes are increasing" from the Nouvel Observateur of June 21, 2010
59. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 132f.
60. ↑ Raffy, pp. 25f .; According to Manardo, pp. 101 and 103f., it was in particular the editorial director of France Football, Denis Chaumier, who downright “loathed” Domenech and made this an editorial guideline.
61. ↑ numerous examples of this in Saccomano / Verdez, u. a. P. 77f.
62. ↑ ^{a b c} Saccomano / Verdez, p. 46
63. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, pp. 83-85
64. ↑ after France Football of June 22, 2010, p. 8
65. ↑ Minutes of the FFF negotiations (PDF; 82 kB), there on p. 2
66. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 57
67. ↑ ^{a b} Saccomano / Verdez, p. 46/47
68. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, pp. 44/45
69. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 72
70. ↑ "Nicolas Anelka unpacks" ( Memento of the original from August 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at France Soir on August 5, 2010; After the allegations became known, Domenech's mother had declared on RTL: “I would like to meet Mr. Anelka to give him the views of a mother - if he has one himself” (“Je voudrais rencontrer M. Anelka, et lui donner le point de vue d 'une maman, s'il en a une lui ”) .  
71. ↑ Detailed book announcement ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on September 25, 2010 at L'Équipe  
72. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, pp. 123 and 132
73. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 133
74. ↑ "Talk to them and turn them into a snail" - Interview with Rosalyne Bachelot in France Football from May 27, 2015, p. 23
75. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 141
76. ↑ France Football, July 6, 2010, p. 24
77. ↑ see for example the articles "Sarkozy makes football a state affair" and "Sarkozy reaches the height of ridiculousness" from Le Parisien of June 24, 2010
78. ↑ Interview with Alfred Wahl in Le Monde on October 28, 2010
79. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 134; on Nigeria see this article from ZEIT online from June 30, 2010
80. ^ France Football of February 1, 2011, p. 42; in German also in this message at Rheinpfalz-online from February 2, 2011
81. ↑ Article on the page of Le Figaro
82. ↑ after this interview ( memento of the original from July 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at France Football 
83. ↑ so France Football ( Memento of the original from September 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on September 1, 2010 with reference to Le Point and Radio Monte Carlo 
84. ↑ Article “Association dismisses Domenech” ( Memento of the original from September 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at France Football on September 5, 2010 
85. ↑ Announcement ( Memento of the original from September 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at France Football and a detailed interview with Houllier in his print edition of September 21, 2010, pp. 34/35. In fact, the resignation did not take place until September 24th: Until then, Houllier had tried to negotiate a one-year leave of absence with the possibility of returning (see this message ( memento of the original from September 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ).   
86. ↑ Announcement ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated October 5, 2010 on the FFF website  
87. ↑ Article “Meuterei-Anführer vorladen” ( Memento of the original from August 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from August 16, 2010 online at France Football 
88. ↑ Article "The Council rejects the resignation" ( Memento of the original from September 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on September 24, 2010 at France Football 
89. ↑ Composition of the steering group and topics (modernization des structures du football français, compétitivité et solidarité du football français, rôle social et citoyen du football français) according to "The steering group" ( Memento des original from September 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: Der Archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on France Football from September 24, 2010 
90. ↑ See the dossier “The amateurs are fed up!” In the print version (p. 31–49) from October 26th and “Football in all its states” ( memento of the original from October 30th 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info : The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated October 28, 2010 on the France Football website 
91. ↑ Article “Five fundamental decisions” from October 29, 2010 on the FFF website
92. ↑ "The reform of the statutes was accepted"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated April 7, 2011 on the FFF website  
93. ↑ Lambert wanted to take on a central role in the organizing committee for the 2016 European Championships in France (see FFF communiqué ). Regarding the question of whether this step announced on November 26, 2010, as reported by Noël Le Graët according to France Football ( Memento of the original of November 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. formulated, "intriguers" contributed within the FFF, Lambert initially has a "lack of loyalty" in general ( memento of the original from November 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. lamented and on December 3, in particular, more centralized structures under Fernand Duchaussoy were denounced (see here ( memento of the original from December 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to instructions and then remove this note and, in more detail, in the print version of November 30, 2010, p. 28). For Thuram's resignation, see this message ( Memento of the original from December 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated December 16, 2010.    
94. ↑ For the first demands, see this article ( Memento of the original from July 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from July 23, on the renegotiations "The sponsors rebel" ( Memento of the original from September 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on September 6, 2010, both with France Football.  
95. ↑ According to “The football association compensates the sponsors of the Bleus” in La Tribune from September 25, 2010, also in short version at France Football ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated September 27, 2010; to amend the sponsorship contracts "Marketing: the cards will be reshuffled" from October 7, 2010 on the association's website. 
96. ↑ "Finances in the red area - the Knysna effect" in France Football of December 21, 2010, p. 47
97. ^ Message from Duchaussoys on the occasion of the Federal Council meeting on January 28, 2011, there with the incorrect indication of a loss of 1.9 million members
98. ↑ see "Le Graët confirms membership decrease by 7%" on France Football from October 6, 2011
99. ↑ France Football of August 10, 2010, p. 17; for the next game in early October, tickets in the cheapest category cost € 20 again (see this announcement on the FFF page).
100. ↑ Article “Good manners required” ( Memento of the original from August 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at France Football online; the catalog of punishments provides for fines of between € 10,000 and € 50,000 for violations. 
101. ^ Fédération Française de Football (ed.): 100 dates, histoires, objets du football français. Tana, o. O. 2011, ISBN 978-2-84567-701-2 , p. 204 or 206: “Après une Coupe du Monde 2010 catastrophique tant sur le plan sportif que de l'image,… la FFF faut tirer les leçons de cet échec. " and " Après l'échec sportif et moral en Afrique du Sud, ... the FFF a fait appel au "President" Laurent Blanc au poste de sélectionneur. "
102. ↑ Article "Henry says goodbye to the blue jersey" on the website of Radio France Internationale
103. ↑ see the complete, official procedural protocol (PDF; 82 kB) on the FFF website, in German the summarizing articles at Kicker.de and ZEIT online
104. ↑ Article "Inappropriate Sanctions" ( Memento of the original from August 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at France Football online 
105. ↑ Article “Bundesrat: Resignation!” In France Football of August 24, 2010, p. 53
106. ↑ "The mutineers, these idiots" ( Memento of the original from December 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at France Football on December 7, 2010  
107. ↑ Saccomano / Verdez, p. 104
108. ↑ "The Bleus want the premium" ( Memento of the original from November 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of l'Équipe and “Prämien für eine Gute Zweck” ( memento of the original from November 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at France Football, both from the 9th, as well as "Lloris: There was a misunderstanding" ( memento of the original from November 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at France Football on November 12, 2010    
109. ↑ “The declaration by President Duchaussoy” on the association's website and “Prämien: Und Domenech?” ( Memento of the original from December 21, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at France Football, from November 16, 2010 
110. ↑ "Agreement in principle" ( Memento of the original from December 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at France Football on December 24, 2010  
111. ↑ Article ( Memento of the original from November 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on November 8, 2010 at France Football  
112. ↑ France Football of December 14, 2010, pp. 4-26
113. ↑ Results of the survey by TNS Sofres in France Football of February 1, 2011, p. 10
114. ↑ see for example France Football from March 22, 2011 (title page "Ribéry, Evra - forgotten everything?" And pp. 42-46) and L'Express ( "Ribéry, Evra: the mutineers are back" )
115. ^ Quote from Ribéry in Le Monde
116. ↑ ^{a b} Interviews from September 26 to 29, 2011 by Harris Interactive , detailed in France Football of October 4, 2011, pp. 44/45
117. ↑ Representative survey from April 24 to 29, 2014, carried out on behalf of France Football by Ipsos SA , published in France Football on May 13, 2014, pp. 26/27.
118. ↑ France Football speaks of a “blue-white-red year of horror” in its cover story of November 2, 2010, p. 5
119. ↑ FIFA rankings from July 14 , September 15 and October 20, 2010
120. ↑ In this game against Norway the following players were used: Stéphane Ruffier ; Aly Cissokho , Rod Fanni , Philippe Mexès , Adil Rami ; Yohan Cabaye , Lassana Diarra , Yann M'Vila , Samir Nasri , Charles N'Zogbia , Moussa Sissoko ; Hatem Ben Arfa , Karim Benzema , Jimmy Briand , Guillaume Hoarau , Jérémy Ménez and Loïc Rémy . For eight of them (Cabaye, Cissokho, Hoarau, Ménez, M'Vila, N'Zogbia, Rami and Ruffier) ​​it was their senior national team debut. In the course of this first “post-Knysna season”, coach Blanc added seven more newcomers, namely goalkeeper Cédric Carrasso , defenders Younès Kaboul and Mamadou Sakho , in midfield Marvin Martin and Blaise Matuidi , and attackers Kevin Gameiro and Dimitri Payet .
121. ↑ France Football of August 10, 2010, p. 33, in German also on the FAZ's online presence on the same day, whose article “Headphones forbidden” also contains an overview of other aspects and effects of Knysna for French football.
122. ↑ Blanc's demand for a "final line" contains according to this article  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. also criticism of the summons of the five players before the FFF disciplinary committee. He confirmed this to France Football after four players had been penalized by the disciplinary committee ( memento of the original of August 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (most recently again on August 22nd ( memento of the original from August 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ).    
123. ↑ see, for example, the article "Knysna - which judgment?" On Sports.fr of August 17, 2010
124. ↑ "Anelka will be able to belong again" ( Memento of the original from November 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at France Football on November 14, 2010  
125. ↑ Article from Foot Hebdo  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated March 17, 2011  
126. ↑ “A 'Profiler' met with the Bleus” from October 5, 2010 on the FFF website
127. ↑ Article “No whistles for the mutineers” in France Football of August 10, 2010, p. 26
128. ↑ Article “A Debacle? Which debacle? ” ( Memento of the original from September 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at France Football and “poor performance by the Bleus disappointed” by Le Parisien 
129. ↑ France Football, for example, has been publishing full-page player portraits of the U-19 European champions in its print edition since August 2010.
130. ↑ France Football of June 7, 2011, p. 31
131. ↑ see the reports on TF1 and fussball.ch from July 30, 2010
132. ↑ see the June 2011 issue of So Foot , p. 25
133. ↑ see the message "Anelka loses against L'Équipe" from July 12, 2011 at l'Équipe
134. ↑ Article “For a divorce from Domenech” ( Memento of the original from September 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from September 1 and “An agreement with Domenech?” ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on October 4, 2010 at France Football  
135. ↑ "Domenech's lawyer declares himself" ( memento of the original from November 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated November 3 and “Domenech – FFF hearing on April 14” ( memento of the original dated December 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 8 December 2010, both with France Football; on the postponement of Kicker Sportmagazin from April 18, 2011, p. 60   
136. ↑ see the France Football article “975,000 euros for Domenech” from August 4th, 2011 on the website as well as “The check that shocks” and “Domenech, the last scandal” in the print version of August 9th, 2011 (p. 3 or 44, there also the literal quotations)
137. ↑ see the article of December 30, 2011 at France Football
138. ↑ Reports to France Football from 9th ( Memento of the original from 10th September 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and September 29, 2010 ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
139. ↑ Announcement ( Memento of the original from October 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at France Football on October 24, 2010  
140. ↑ So in 2014 again kicker correspondent Élie Barth in “Das neue Wir-Feeling”, Kicker Sportmagazin from June 23, 2014, p. 46.
141. ↑ “ Ten years ago: Raymond Domenech reads the famous letter from his players ” and “ Ten years ago: What happened to the players? "
142. ↑ " Ten Years After Knysna: The Story of the Longest Day "
143. ↑ see the article “ What happened to the protagonists of Knysna ten years later? "At sudouest.fr," Ten years ago: The Knysna strike or the implosion of the blues at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa "at nicematin.com (both June 19, 2020) and" Ten years ago: The Knysna strike, the unimaginable stupidity of the blues ”on June 20, 2020 at leparisien.fr
144. ↑ As early as June 19, 2010 the daily newspaper Liberation put it : “The illusion of black-blanc-beur-France seems far away” (il semble bien loin le mirage de la France “black-blanc-beur”) . Several statements can be found in the article "The Bleus: 'arrogant louts' from the suburbs or scapegoats?" From the Liberation of June 24, 2010. See also "Republic of the gangs" from the Tages-Anzeiger of June 23, 2010
145. ↑ See, for example, the article L'homme vertical from the Nouvel Observateur of July 16, 1998, which was included in the second edition of the contemporary historical source collection by Olivier Wieviorka / Christophe Prochasson: La France du XX ^e siècle. Seuil, Paris 2004, ISBN 978-2-02-063236-2 , pp. 733-735. For the function of such terms see, for example, Martin Doering / Dietmar Osthus: Black, Blanc, Beur: Metaphorical identity, identical metaphors? - Forms and functions of metaphors in the French daily press for the 1998 Mondial. (2002), available here as PDF.
146. ↑ The term “suburbs” (French: les cités ) is used in France as a synonym for the - actual or supposed - accumulation of current social problems there (disproportionate concentration of certain immigrant groups, high unemployment, structural “inhospitableness”, increased delinquency and the like. ) is used (see e.g. the literature list in the French-language Wikipedia article ; see also Großwohnsiedlung ).
147. ↑ ^{a b c} Saccomano / Verdez, pp. 145–147
148. ↑ For this purpose, the Ministry of Immigration has set up a website ( “Grand débat sur l'identité nationale” ); see. also Anne T. Bouchet: La France de la Cinquième République. Seuil / Éd. Sciences Humaines, Auxerre 2013, ISBN 978-2-3610-6040-4 , in particular pp. 274ff.
149. ↑ after “Black – Blanc – Out” at NZZ online from June 25, 2010
150. ↑ “Spiegel einer Gesellschaft?” On Deutschlandradio
151. ↑ Excerpts from the conversation on the website of Les inRockuptibles , even shorter on France Football ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated November 30, 2010 
152. ↑ ^{a b} “France's national team: Decline of civic consciousness” from Liberation from June 28, 2010
153. ↑ Interview with Le Goff ( "Society includes many 'badly worked' adults and narcissistic babies" ) from Liberation on July 1, 2010
154. ↑ France Football of May 10, 2011, pp. 35 and 37
155. ↑ Topic "Odds that put fire to the fuse" in France Football of May 3, 2011, pp. 26–33; Verbatim quotations on p. 30 and 31
156. ↑ Commission report (“No quota regulation”) ( Memento of the original from May 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of May 10th, on Blaquart's suspension of this article of May 11th, 2011, both on the France Football website  
157. ↑ Article in Le Monde from May 10, 2011

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