Several players from Toulouse, Nantes or Guingamp refused to play with the rainbow flocked jersey on this weekend of fight against homophobia in football, reviving the controversies aroused last year already by Idrissa Gana Gueye.

"We must not give too much importance to these individual choices and do not forget that more than 400 players have played the game without any problem," Bertrand Lambert, a member of Panamboyz and Girlz United, one of the associations with which the Professional Football League (LFP) works all year round, told AFP. "This is an ultra-minority reaction, I would like to welcome the fact that many Toulouse supporters have clearly condemned this attitude on Twitter," he insists.

The vast majority of L1 and L2 players played with the numbers in the colors of the LGBT pride flag for this annual campaign "Gay or straight, we all wear the same jersey". The Montpellier club has even inserted the rainbow
in its crest, replacing its traditional blue and white stripes.

But in Toulouse, explained the club's management in a statement, "players from the professional squad expressed their disagreement" and did not want to join this operation, including Zakaria Aboukhlal.

"A day not necessary", seriously?

The Moroccan international explained in English on Instagram that he "respects all individuals, regardless of their preferences, gender, religion", but, he adds, "respect also contains respect for my own beliefs. I don't think I'm the best person to participate in this campaign, I hope my decision will be respected."

On the Nantes side, Mostafa Mohamed has also indicated his refusal to participate in the operation, we learned from a source close to the club "canari". The Egyptian, explained his coach Pierre Aristuy, "was torn between his desire to play and more distant issues. It's a sensitive issue." On Saturday, the Senegalese defender of Guingamp Donatien Gomis had also preferred to declare forfeit for the Ligue 2 match in Sochaux.

"I expected worse," Yoann Lemaire of the Foot Ensemble association told AFP. "We underestimated the problem, a lot of players don't want to wear the shirt."

Le Roy and Genesio off topic

These tunics are then to be auctioned for the benefit of the associations Foot Ensemble, Panamboyz & Girlz United and SOS Homophobie.

Brest coach Eric Roy lamented a "catastrophic" timing. "Don't do it in the last four games" when clubs play for their "survival," he said after Brest's win over Auxerre on Sunday afternoon.

"There are players who have a problem with that. Everyone is free of their opinions, personally, it is not a problem for me, "added the technician from Brest. "It's very good that the League is committed, but personally, I'm not happy that there are five players who do not play in Toulouse, who face Nantes, who fight with us to maintain. Is it fair? No. »


🌈 Eric Roy's big rant against the programming of the day of fight against homophobia: "No it's not fair!pic.twitter.com/vEOgl2Kgz8

— RMC Sport (@RMCsport) May 14, 2023

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A hallucinating speech, almost as much as that of Bruno Genesio, the coach of Rennes: "Everyone is free to think and do what he wants. I tell you that we are against all forms of discrimination but I am not sure that it is necessary to make a day against homophobia. I think we're all aware of that and it's not worth wanting to post all the time."

Bertrand Lambert, of Panamboyz and Girlz United, recalls that this operation "does not aim to promote homosexuality but to promote football open to all, and to fight against homophobia, which is not an opinion in France but a crime. It must be understood that these people are not asked to become homosexuals! »

He stresses that his association and others intervene "all year round with players and in training centers" and "salutes the work of the LFP". The association leader "still feels that things have evolved little by little. Before we were a bit alone in sounding the alarm, until the day games were stopped, the problem that was swept under the carpet became public."


  • Sport
  • Football
  • Ligue 1
  • Homophobia