| Florian Grill | |
| Birth Date: | 1965 10, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Paris, France |
| Occupation: | CEO of the French Rugby Federation |
| Alma Mater: | HEC Paris |
Florian Grill, born October 14, 1965, in Paris, is a French business executive and rugby union manager.
From 2017 to 2023, he was president of the Île-de-France regional rugby league. On June 14, 2023, he was elected president of the French Rugby Federation.
Born in Paris,[1] he played for 12 years during his youth at the Paris Université club in the lock position up to the senior category.[2] He is notably vice-champion of France and captain with the Reichel juniors. He stopped practicing in seniors to devote himself to his studies.[3]
A graduate of the HEC Paris business school in 1988, he was involved in community life by being president of the student union and by joining the school's rugby team as a 3rd center line.
After obtaining his diploma, he joined the United States for a while, having decided to do his military service in VSNE (Volunteer in National Service Company). On site, he plays rugby with the Manhattan Rugby Club.
In 1994, he founded the marketing and media consulting agency CoSpirit Groupe with his friend Olivier Delavoye. Since its creation, he has been its president and CEO.
He is also co-owner of the Château de l'Engarran, a renowned wine property located in Lavérune, near Montpellier. His sister Diane Losfelt is at the head of the estate and was elected winemaker of the year by the Guide Hachette des Vins in 2021.[4]
When his son started playing rugby, he enrolled him in the Boulogne-Billancourt Athletic Club rather than the PUC, thinking of taking up rowing himself in this club. Accompanying his son, he became an educator and then manager within the ACBB rugby school. President of the Boulogne-Billancourt Athletic club from 2009, he is at the forefront of the fight to save the Boulogne-Billancourt club after the decision of the Paris town hall to allocate the Saut-du-Loup stadium to the Stade Français.[5] After the decision of the ACBB omnisports taken on May 1, 2012, to impose a drop of two divisions, he resigned with the entire board of directors of the rugby association. At this time, he became friends with Pierre Camou, president of the French Federation, and joined the Île-de-France rugby committee.[6]
In November 2016, he was a member of the list led by Pierre Camou to join the steering committee of the French Rugby Federation. During the election, on December 3, 2016, the list led by Bernard Laporte obtained 52.6% of the votes, or 29 seats, compared to 35.28% of the votes for Pierre Camou (six seats) and 12.16% for Alain Doucet (two seats). Florian Grill joins the steering committee but it is Bernard Laporte who is elected president of the French rugby federation.
During the executive committee of the Île-de-France rugby committee of June 27, 2017, he was elected president of the committee.[7] In December 2017, he was a candidate to take over as president of the new Île-de-France regional rugby league, which takes over from the committee after the territorial reorganization. After the first decentralized electronic vote in the history of French rugby, the list led by Florian Grill obtained 66.2% of the votes, or 34 seats, compared to 33.8% of the votes for that of Jean-Loup Dujardin (6 seats), supported by the president of the federation Bernard Laporte. Florian Grill thus becomes the first president of the Île-de-France Regional League.
In 2019, he participated in a working group to prepare the renewal of the steering committee of the French Rugby Federation in October 2020. This brings together leaders from the amateur world and former internationals such as Serge Blanco, Jean-Claude Skrela, Fabien Pelous or Jean-Marc Lhermet. On June 25, 2019, this group announced that Florian Grill will be at the head of the opposition list which will present itself against the current governance.
At the end of the ballot, on October 3, 2020, his list brought together 48.53% of the votes against that of Bernard Laporte (51.47%). Florian Grill retains his place on the steering committee but it is Bernard Laporte who is re-elected as president of the FFR. He then announced his candidacy to be re-elected president of the Île-de-France league during the general assembly of November 7, 2020. His list won the elections with 90.76% of the votes and obtained 39 seats out of 40 on the steering committee.[8]
On January 27, 2023, he left the steering committee of the federation with all the elected officials from his list, after the resignation of President Bernard Laporte and the call from the Minister of Sports for a resignation of the entire steering committee to provoke new general elections. He nevertheless continues to participate in the steering committee without a deliberative voice as president of a regional league. During the May 2023 by-election to renew 12 members, he re-joined the steering committee with 11 other members of the Oval Ensemble list.[9]
On June 14, 2023, he was elected president of the French Rugby Federation with 58% of the votes.[10] He then set up a federal office with seven members from his list and five members from the existing majority. This distribution makes it possible to illustrate the votes of the clubs within the body.