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Favard reignites feud with Riou: "Hated everywhere he goes"

Nearly ten years after their on-air altercation on L'Équipe's channel, Gilles Favard has reopened hostilities in a podcast, targeting commentator Yoann Riou over his football knowledge and interpersonal relationships.

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Favard reignites feud with Riou: "Hated everywhere he goes"
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Gilles Favard has not moved on. Nearly ten years after an on-air altercation with Yoann Riou during the L’Équipe du Soir broadcast — during which he had threatened to hit his colleague — the former sports adviser to Waldemar Kita at FC Nantes has once again attacked the commentator in the podcast Face à Raju.

“I’m not going to give importance to someone who has none. For me, he’s the village idiot,” he said, referencing that popular character always depicted with arms raised in wonder. Favard then escalated: “He has no football culture whatsoever. The only thing I can tell you is that he’s hated by everyone. Everywhere he goes. And nobody talks about it.”

The 2017 incident had cost Favard several suspensions, keeping him away from L’Équipe du Soir — hosted by Olivier Ménard — notably for this clash with Riou, but also for controversial remarks targeting Hiroki Sakai, then a defender at Olympique de Marseille.

At 76 years old, Favard subsequently made multiple appearances on Touche pas à mon poste, where Cyril Hanouna regularly invited him to oppose Gilles Verdez. Yoann Riou, for his part, remains present on L’Équipe’s channel as a commentator on L’Équipe de Greg and a member of Grosses Têtes on RTL.

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