French Football Federation (FFF) President Noel Le Graet has been forced to step down from his duties following disrespectful comments directed at legend Zinedine Zidane.

Le Graet hit out at the former Real Madrid manager when he was quizzed about his future.

The FA boss took the swipe by claiming that the former Les Bleus captain was never in contention for the France national team job before Didier Deschamps’ contract was renewed.

“Zidane to Brazil? I don’t care, let him go wherever he wants,” the France FA boss told RMC Sport.

“Did Zidane try to contact me? Of course not, I wouldn’t have even picked up the phone.

“[You can] make a special show for him to find a club or a national team.”

The remarks attracted criticism from the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Franck Ribery, Djibril Cisse, Youri Djorkaeff, Florent Pietrus, French sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera and Real Madrid.

An FFF statement has now confirmed that the 81-year-old, who has also been accused of sexual harassment, is ‘taking a step back’ from his duties and vice president Philippe Diallo was named acting interim chairman.

“Noel Le Graet, in agreement with the executive committee of the FFF meeting today [January 11] in Paris, has chosen to withdraw from his duties as president of the Federation until the final communication of the audit carried out by the Ministry of Sports, and awaiting its analysis by the Comex (executive committee) of the FFF,” reads the statement.

“The Comex of the FFF has also decided to lay off Florence Hardouin, general manager of the FFF, as a precautionary measure. As of today, Philippe Diallo, deputy vice-president of the FFF, will act as interim manager of these two functions.”