Longoria affair: facing the disciplinary committee this Wednesday, the OM president risks big

Pablo Longoria will find out his fate in a few hours. The LFP disciplinary committee is meeting this Wednesday at the end of the afternoon. Like every week, this independent body will rule on a certain number of cases involving the behavior of players, coaches, managers or supporters deemed reprehensible on Ligue 1 pitches.

In general, sensitive cases can wait fifteen days before being submitted for study. Not that of the president of Olympique de Marseille. Given the seriousness of the facts , we will know in the evening what sanction has been retained against him.

As a reminder, Longoria repeated several times on Saturday evening that he was the victim of "corruption" after his club's defeat at Auxerre-Marseille (3-0). Accusations coupled with a threat to leave Ligue 1, a "shitty championship". All these remarks were repeated many times in front of the staff of the two teams and the cameras of the broadcaster DAZN.

The Spanish manager will be interviewed by videoconference and should know his sanction immediately afterwards. It should be severe given the content of his remarks and the emotion they have aroused. The 111 referees of L1 and L2 are preparing to file a collective complaint for defamation.

"There is no scale for such remarks," a member of the disciplinary committee told AFP on Tuesday. But if we rely on the FFF scale, the sanction can range from three matches, four matches, twelve matches, or even six months of suspension. Depending on whether the behavior is "excessive or inappropriate," "hurtful," "rude or insulting" or, in the worst case, "intimidating or threatening."

One of the issues will be to what extent the manager's apologies will enter into the equation. On Monday morning, Longoria said he regretted this slip-up in an interview with AFP. "I want to say that there is no corruption in French football," he admitted, stating that his outburst "was not appropriate" but was explained by "a lot of refereeing decisions on which (he) considers that OM was disadvantaged."

The end of the OM season could therefore be written with a suspended president and a football director, since Medhi Benatia is serving a three-month sanction after an incident which already involved Jérémy Stinat.

Marseille could also have to do without Fabrizio Ravanelli, its sports advisor, who was also summoned by the disciplinary committee for having described Jérémy Stinat's refereeing as "scandalous".

It should be noted that if he were suspended on Wednesday evening, the Marseille president, vice-president of the LFP, would not be able to attend a League Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, of which he is also a member, while the body is in legal dispute with DAZN , its main TV broadcaster.

On Tuesday afternoon, Pablo Longoria met with the Minister of Sports, Marie Barsacq. According to our information, the latter took advantage of this meeting to warn Pablo Longoria that such behavior was to be prohibited. She also reminded him of the duty of exemplarity, particularly with regard to supporters and young people who follow football, imposed on him by his status, with regard to a refereeing body already subject to certain harassment .