Francis Graille (born 25 April 1955) is a French businessman and executive. He has worked for various media companies, and served as the president of professional football clubs Lille OSC, Paris Saint-Germain, and AJ Auxerre.

Career

In 1982, Graille began his career working as a local correspondent for news agency Agence France-Presse in his native Le Puy-en-Velay.^[1] In 1986, he became a regional manager at radio station NRJ, before discovering the world of television with Télé Lyon Métropole.^[1][2] Graille would go on to found Concept TV and Visual TV, two television production companies.^[3]

From 1999 to 2002, Graille worked as the director of football club Lille OSC, in association with Luc Dayan [fr].^[1][2] From 2003 to 2005, he was the president of Paris Saint-Germain.^[3]

In 2006, Graille started working in film production by founding Holi Films.^[1] In 2007, he became an executive at Sportfive, which had been recently acquired by Lagardère Group. He was in charge of the company's media branch, and specialized in the promotion of TV rights.^[4][3] He left Sportfive in 2009.^[2]

In June 2010, Graille received an eight-month suspended sentence and a €20,000 fine for illegal transfer dealings during his time as the president of Paris Saint-Germain.^[5] His predecessor Laurent Perpère [fr] was also convicted.^[6]

On 17 May 2017, Graille became the president of football club AJ Auxerre, as a representative of Chinese majority owner ORG Technology.^[7][8] He left in May 2021, and was replaced by James Zhou [fr], the owner of ORG Technology.^[9]

References