The French Rugby Federation is in “very, very serious financial difficulty” according to its president Florian Grill

Florian Grill, président de la Fédération française de rugby. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

La Coupe du monde 2023 va coûter 19 millions d'euros à la Fédération française de rugby, "en très grande difficulté financière", a assuré ce mercredi 12 juin le président de la FFR Florian Grill.

"We were told that the World Cup was going to bring in 5 million euros: gradually, we discovered that the World Cup was going to lose up to ;#39;to 36 million euros. As the Federation is a 55% shareholder of the GIE, that amounts to 19 million euros in additional losses. This is the truth of the figures", launched Grill during a progress update after almost a year in office, where he mentioned an FFR &quot ;in very very serious financial difficulty" with 17 million euros in structural losses.

For the 2023-2024 season, the operating result estimated by the Federation shows a loss of 35 million.

Grill, who became president of the FFR a year ago, succeeded treasurer Alexandre Martinez, interim president after the resignation of Bernard Laporte.

"40 million skid"

"There is a GIP (public interest group, Editor's note) who won 44 million euros but an agreement which provides – for the moment – that the FFR cannot touch anything on the GIP. There is also a GIE (economic interest group, Editor's note), which managed hospitality and for which we discovered that its result was d&# 39;s exploitation went from +5 to -36, so practically 40 million in slippage, and of which we are 55% shareholders. On the one hand, we lose 19 million and on the other, we gain 0″, lamented Grill.

"We are negotiating with the State, with the National Rugby League, with the regions and the host cities so that the FFR is not the only loser of France-2023. The discussions are not concluded, we are therefore obliged to materialize the 19 million losses", he continued.

The World Cup organized last year in France (September 8-October 28) was won by South Africa, the defending champion. Fabien Galthié's XV of France was eliminated in the quarter-final by the Springboks (29-28).