<p>PARIS — French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet was re-elected on Saturday despite opposition from anti-racism activists who describe him as out of touch.</p>
<p>The 79-year-old Le Graet convincingly beat candidates Frederic Thiriez and Michel Moulin, earning a four-year term after taking 73% of the vote.</p>
<p>Le Graet, president since 2011, was the heavy favorite and had strong backing from influential Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas and Strasbourg president Marc Keller.</p>
<p>He has a close working relationship with France coach Didier Deschamps, who guided France to the European Championship final in 2016 and World Cup victory two years later.</p>
<p>Thiriez, the French league’s president from 2002-2016, claimed 25% of the vote and Moulin had just under 2%.</p>
<p>Anti-racism activists have criticized Le Graet for not taking the sport’s problems seriously enough. Le Graet <a href="https://apnews.com/article/international-soccer-race-and-ethnicity-marseille-paris-neymar-b31c29229ad4fff48e1739b13ed0777f">downplayed an incident</a> in September when Neymar said he was racially abused by an opponent.</p>
<p>Le Graet at that time told broadcaster BFM Business: “This phenomenon of racism in sport, and in football in particular, does not exist at all or barely does.”</p>
<p>The SOS Racisme campaign group and others had <a href="https://twitter.com/SOS_Racisme/status/1370414585312854019">urged voters</a> to join them in opposing Le Graet’s candidacy.</p>
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