France’s soccer federation is receiving pressure from its main sponsor, Nike, to explain what steps it is taking to address dysfunction within its senior management ranks, a workplace culture marked by bullying, misbehavior and sexism, and troubling details about interactions between an official at its top player academy and a teenage prospect. Nike’s intervention is not the only one the troubled federation is facing. Last week, France’s ministry of sport reported that it planned to begin an investigation into allegations, published by The New York Times, that the federation mishandled an investigation involving inappropriate behavior by a former instructor at its national training center at Clairefontaine. Nike’s public intervention is significant as sponsors typically only comment on the behaviors of their partners when the situation rises in seriousness.
See "Nike Expresses Concern Over Crisis at French Soccer Federation", Tariq Panja, New York Times, December 8, 2020