The French Football League suspended Monaco midfielder Mohamed Kamara for four matches after hiding an anti-homosexuality message on his shirt during a French League match.
Monaco’s players had a ‘homophobia’ symbol with a red cross on their shirts during their final Ligue 1 match of the season against Nantes, but 24-year-old Kamara used white tape to cover the symbol on his shirts. shirt.
The Malian international also did not take part in a pre-match photo shoot between Monaco and Nantes players, who posed in front of a banner in support of the International Day Against Homophobia, Homophobia, Homophobia and Transphobia.
Kamara scored a penalty in a 4-0 win for Monaco, which finished second in Ligue 1 this season, nine points behind champions Paris Saint-Germain.
On Thursday, LFP He confirmed that Kamara will be suspended for four matches.
The association said in a statement: “After listening to the player Mohamed Kamara, and noting his refusal during the meeting to take one or more measures to raise awareness of combating homophobia, the committee decided to impose a four-match suspension.”
Kamara has hidden the symbol displayed on all Monaco shirts (NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images)
The decision came 10 days after French Sports Minister Amelie O’Dea-Castera called for the “severest sanctions” to be imposed on the player.
“It is unacceptable behaviour” Odea Castera told French radio station RTL after the match. “I had the opportunity to tell the French Football League what I thought last night and I believe that such behavior should be subject to the strongest sanctions against the player and the club that allowed it to happen.”
Monaco general manager Thiago Scuro He said after the incident The club “supports the work of the league” and explained how it had contacted LFP general manager Arnaud Roger to “apologize” on behalf of the club.
“Mo did it for religious reasons,” Scuro said. “It is a very sensitive topic at all levels, because we also have to respect all religions. But as an organization, we are very sad about this incident and want to make it clear that we do not support this.”
“I would like to say that, as a club, we support the process organized by the association,” Monaco coach Adi Hutter said after the match. On his part, this was a personal initiative. There will be an internal discussion with him about this situation. I will not comment further.”
Clubs in France’s top two divisions have shown their support for the LGBTQ+ community by customizing their shirts with the rainbow symbol for one match day in each of the last three seasons as part of a league campaign.
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Last year, managers wore rainbow armbands and players wore rainbow jerseys, which were auctioned off to raise money for anti-discrimination charities against the LGBTQ+ community. In 2022 and 2021, the shirts featured rainbow numbers on the back.
The campaign has previously met with some resistance. Last season, Toulouse left some players out of the squad to face Nantes after they disagreed with the club’s involvement in an anti-homophobia campaign.
Idrissa Gueye missed PSG’s match against Montpellier in May 2022 after players were required to wear shirts with rainbow numbers, having also missed the equivalent match the previous season. He has been criticized by a number of political figures in France, but has received support in his native Senegal, where homosexuality is illegal.
(Nicholas Tokat/AFP via Getty Images)