Story by dw.com • Yesterday 6:35 PM

The coach of the French national football team has been sacked just four months before the Women’s World Cup. Corinne Diacre had faced a revolt by some of the leading members of the national team.

Corinne Diacre had been head coach of France since 2017© JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP via Getty Images

The French Football Federation (FFF) on Thursday announced that it had decided to part ways with national team head coach Corinne Diacre after an executive committee meeting.

In a press release, the FFF praised Diacre’s “involvement and seriousness” but said that a four-person committee that had been set up to scrutinize how the women’s national team is being run, had “unanimously” recommended sacking the coach.

“The numerous hearings conducted have made it possible to establish a very important gap with some top players,” it said. “This gap has reached a point of no return that damages the team’s interests.”

Player resignations

The move wasn’t completely unexpected, as Diacre had been under growing pressure since captain Wendie Renard announced her resignation from the national team last month.

“I can no longer support the current system which falls a long way short of the demands required to compete at the highest level,” Renard said.

Paris Saint-Germain forward Kadidiatou Diani, the top scorer in the French league, who like Renard was nominated for last year’s Ballon d’Or, also quit, along with her PSG teammate Marie-Antoinette Katoto.

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