Florian Grill has been elected as the new president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) ahead of the men’s World Cup taking place in the country later this year.

The 57-year-old replaces on a permanent basis Bernard Laporte, who stepped down in January after being found guilty of corruption by French authorities.

Grill takes over from acting president Alexandre Martinez after securing 58% of the votes to beat rival candidate Patrick Buisson. He will serve in the role until the end of 2024.

In late December, Laporte was handed a two-year suspended prison sentence and a €75,000 ($81,300) fine over influence peddling and illegally acquiring assets, including a €1.8-million shirt sponsorship agreement with construction firm Altrad for the French national team.

In March 2017, Laporte awarded the contract to the firm's billionaire owner and close friend Mohed Altrad, who is also the owner of Top 14 champions Montpellier.

He also resigned from a position as vice president of World Rugby, with this incident a major stumbling block during the preparations for the 2023 World Cup, which will run from September 8 to October 28 this year.

After an eight-year spell as head coach in the 2000s, Laporte took over as president of the FFR in 2016 and was re-elected in 2020.

This year's World Cup is still without a chief executive for its organizing body after Claude Atcher was sacked from the position in October last year following a report that found he oversaw an “extremely degraded social environment” at the organizing committee.