France youth coach warned over quota scandal

(AFP) – 2 days ago

PARIS — The French football federation on Tuesday issued a "warning" to National Technical Director Francois Blaquart over a controversial plan to introduce quotas for dual-nationality players in the France national football team.

Blaquart, responsible for the youth coaching policy in France, had been suspended pending the outcome of the probe into the plan, which the coach had said was now abandoned.

The federation's deputy director general, Andre Prevosto, received a six-day ban, sources close to the inquiry also told AFP.

The inquiry came about after the influential Mediapart website claimed that top management at the federation, including France manager Laurent Blanc, secretly discussed and approved "unofficial discriminatory quotas" at a meeting last November to limit the number of black and Arab players coming through their national training programmes to 30 percent.