Marseille president’s corruption rant sparks backlash from French soccer federation, referees

The French soccer federation president is joining forces with the country’s referees after Marseille president Pablo Longoria accused them of being corrupt in a bitter rant that followed his team’s 3-0 loss at Auxerre in the French league. “I condemn in the strongest possible terms the remarks made by the president and officials of Olympique de Marseille against French refereeing in general and the referee of yesterday’s match, Jérémy Stinat, in particular, to whom I offer my full support,” Philippe Diallo, the soccer federation president, said in a statement. The committee said Longoria “took no notice of this and, on the contrary, went one step further in his outrageousness.” Earlier this year, Marseille director of football Mehdi Benatia was suspended for three months for his attitude toward Stinat during a French Cup loss against Lille when the referee served as the fourth official. I hope Cornelius’ red card won’t be seen outside France because it gives a bad image of French soccer.” Former Marseille player Fabrizio Ravanelli, now acting as the club’s advisor, was also left fuming by the result and accused the game’s referee of “not knowing what he was doing.” Ravanelli also spoke out against previous refereeing decisions against Marseille captain Leonardo Balerdi, who was suspended for the game against Auxerre.