French football chief 'very careful' over Deschamps threat
1 Nov 2017 4:55 PM GMT
Paris: French football federation president Noel Le Graet said he was adopting a "very careful" approach after a photoshopped image of national team coach Didier Deschamps emerged accompanied by threats from Islamic State sympathisers.
France's Interior minister Gerard Collomb "is taking care of it very directly and therefore I can't provide any more information. In any event, we are very careful with what's been said," Le Graet told a press conference Tuesday.
The French federation chief, who announced Deschamps had agreed to extend his contract until 2020, was reacting to a mocked-up picture depicting the former World Cup winner published by the pro-Islamic State Wafa Media Foundation.
According to experts, there is no proven and authenticated link between groups such as the Wafa Foundation and IS or its official communication outlets.
Dozens of threats against events such as the World Cup, which takes place from June 14 to July 15 next year in Russia, are posted daily on social networks, including some against football stars. The image of Deschamps, detected by the US-based monitor SITE Intelligence Group on October 27, shows him chained up in an orange prison jumpsuit and being threatened with a gun.
Meanwhile, The French Football Federation (FFF) and Didier Deschamps have agreed on a two-year contract extension, enabling the latter to remain head coach of the French national football team until 2020.
Noel Le Graet announced the decision on Tuesday that keeps Deschamps at his position until the end of the 2020 European Championship, reports Xinhua news agency.
Deschamps took over from Laurent Blanc after the 2012 Euro, guiding Les Bleus to the 2014 World Cup quarter-finals, where they lost to the eventual champions Germany.
Two years later, France made it to the final at the 2016 European Championship on their homeland, before losing to Portugal 0-1 in the final.
According to FFF, Deschamps has recorded 43 wins, 12 draws and 14 defeats as the national team's head coach since 2012. With seven wins, two draws and one loss in qualifiers, France secured an automatic berth in the 2018 World Cup finals as top finisher in Group A.
Deschamps played 103 matches for France as a player, winning the World Cup in 1998 and the European Championship in 2000.
The draw for the 2018 World Cup finals will take place on December 1 in Moscow.
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