In 2017, Diacre stripped longtime France national team player Wendie Renard of her first-
captaincy, and gave the armband to
Amandine Henry instead. Renard discussed her feud with Diacre in her 2019 autobiography “Mon Étoile”. Renard wrote that Diacre stripped her of her captaincy under the reasoning that Renard had a low individual level and did not play as well for France as she did for her club team, Lyon. In the same autobiography, Renard also claimed that Diacre refused to shake her hand at a national team camp in
Montpellier in 2018, and “looked at (Renard) with disgust” for not introducing herself with the
faire la bise instead. Renard’s autobiography drew criticism from
Noël Le Graët for revisiting old problems, and Diacre demanded Renard be punished, which Le Graët also pushed back against. Diacre generated controversy with her list of call-ups for the
2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, with notable absences including
Kheira Hamraoui and
Marie-Antoinette Katoto. The absence of the latter Katoto garnered the most controversy, as she was the
French league’s top scorer in the
previous season. France exited the tournament in the quarterfinals to the
United States, the eventual winners of the tournament. Later in the year, United States player and quarterfinal goalscorer
Megan Rapinoe questioned Diacre’s tactics in the match, and suggested the team have a change in management. On the morning of the
2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final, Diacre gave an interview with
Téléfoot where she criticized
Eugénie Le Sommer’s play during the quarterfinal match against the USA, alleging that Le Sommer ignored Diacre’s tactics and strayed too far to the left. Diacre’s comments were put into question by
Olympique Lyonnais president
Jean-Michel Aulas and former Lyon manager
Reynald Pedros. Aulas claimed that people from Lyon knew of “inconceivable things” that happened during preparation for the 2019 Women’s World Cup. Pedros replied to Diacre’s criticisms with a tweet praising Le Sommer’s play in the striker position with Lyon. Diacre later apologized to Le Sommer for her comments, saying she was “still learning the rules of communication.” In February 2020, France national team midfielder
Gaëtane Thiney was the next to speak out against Diacre, asking her to modernize her coaching tactics and model them after
French men’s national football team coach
Didier Deschamps. Weeks later, she was subsequently left out of the French squad for the
2020 Tournoi de France, with Diacre claiming her performances were below par. Following the Tournoi de France, former Lyon manager
Gérard Prêcheur told
L'Équipe that “everyone knows” about the bad relationship between Diacre and her players. At the end of July 2020, longtime France national team
goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi indefinitely retired from international football, at first referencing the team’s early 2019 Women’s World Cup exit as a reason for her departure. Bouhaddi was originally unsettled by Diacre’s decision to give France's third-captaincy to
Marion Torrent who had less than 30 caps, after Bouhaddi had been third-captain for over a year. Bouhaddi delved further into her reasons for retiring from the national team and denounced Diacre in an interview, saying “Winning a title with this coach seems impossible to me. We play in a very, very negative environment. I don't see myself winning anything with this manager, and a lot of players think so too but don't say it.” Bouhaddi was included in Diacre’s call-up list in September 2020, but Bouhaddi persisted on being away from the team as long as Diacre was national team manager. A new controversy arose when Diacre did not call up captain
Amandine Henry for two
Euro 2022 qualifying matches in October 2020, saying she was not at an adequate national team level after recovering from an injury. The decision drew critical reactions from Olympique Lyonnais Féminin’s General Manager Olivier Blanc, Henry’s agent, Wendie Renard,
Amel Majri, and
Reynald Pedros. Pedros commented on the situation to
Canal+, saying Diacre’s treatment of Henry was “very clearly a punishment.” He continued to criticize Diacre, saying "It is a very complicated relationship between the players and the coach. Players returned to their clubs very psychologically affected. They go to the France team out of obligation, not out of pleasure. They go to the French team with a pit in their stomach. When they came back, we had discussions to morally try to put them afloat […] We could see that there were things that were wrong. The girls were sometimes at their wit's end. ” Diacre responded accusing Pedros of being jealous of her position as national team coach. A short time after the call-up list was announced, Henry scored a goal against
Guingamp with her club team, Lyon. She celebrated by plugging her ears (similarly to
Memphis Depay’s signature celebration) as teammate
Dzsenifer Marozsán pulled on the name of Henry’s shirt, alluding to Diacre’s comments. In the same month of October, former
Clermont Foot goalkeeper
Franck L'Hostis, along with players
Anthony Lippini and
Karim Djellabi, spoke out against Diacre’s coaching style in an interview with
So Foot, comparing her time at the club to a
dictatorship. They claimed Diacre would force players to sit out matches without giving them a reason, and would threaten to fire them “for the good of the group.” Diacre also allegedly would not allow players to stay in their rooms during
Ramadan, again for the good of the group. The players continued, criticizing her for being overly particular about minor things such as players wearing matching socks in practice or even barring players from having ice cubes in their drinks. All of these things earned her the nicknames of “
Attila,” “the dragon” and “the chief warrant officer” amongst the Clermont players. When Diacre left her position at Clermont, she did so without saying goodbye. In mid-November, Amandine Henry gave an interview with
Canal+, where she spoke about being dropped from the national team, accusing Diacre of doing so as punishment for speaking to
Noël Le Graët about the team’s issues. Henry went on to describe the national team environment around the time of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Days after Henry’s interview, Diacre attempted to put an end to the controversies surrounding the France national team. She re-called Amandine Henry to the team, despite Henry’s public comments against Diacre. Around the same time as Henry’s interview, a former Clermont player,
Thomas Guerbert, spoke about her management during her time at the club. Guerbert tweeted that Diacre’s coaching style for the France national team was the same as it was in the
Ligue 2 club, and to “not expect her to change.” Guerbert’s claims echoed the concerns of his Clermont teammates from a month prior. At the beginning of February 2021, Noël Le Graët offered his continued support to Diacre: "Her sporting record is very good." He added, however, that her communication could be a point to improve: "She has hardened, perhaps a little too much ... There is probably better communication to be had.” In the summer of 2021, Eric Blahic, Diacre’s assistant coach since January 2020, stepped down from his role. He was the second assistant coach under Diacre to step down since 2017. Blahic was reprimanded by Diacre for having private, off-the-record conversations with players, and upon his departure he blamed Diacre for wanting too much control. On 8 March 2023, amid reports of opposition from players and uncertainty over her future, Diacre said she had been "the subject of a smear campaign that is astonishing in its violence and dishonesty" ahead of the
World Cup. French media reports said former captain Wendie Renard and other senior players including
Marie-Antoinette Katoto and
Kadidiatou Diani had made clear they would no longer play for France as long as Diacre remained coach. A day later, the France Football Federation announced Diacre had been sacked due to her poor relations with players. "It appears that the dysfunctions observed seem, in this context, irreversible," the federation said in a statement. ==Personal life==