Nantes Fines Muslim Player Who Refuses To Wear LGBTQ Shirt

• Prominent Football players speak out against their lack of autonomy.
• Players have been under an immense amount of pressure on International Day Against Homophobia .

Football, the most popular sport in the world. With billions of fans around the world and in an ever changing political landscape the one things that seems to remain constant is the obsession human beings seem to have with The beautiful game. The objective of a football club used to be: To Win By All Means Necessary! Politics doesn’t mix and your personal beliefs don’t matter. It is not uncommon to have players play in the same team that don’t see eye to eye on anything of substance. They might be on the opposite sides of every topic that appears to be contentious in today’s political climate but it is well understood that the players are paid to perform on the pitch and their beliefs or lack there of are irrelevant. The club’s hierarchy doesn’t expect their players to be uniform in their religious or political convictions, as long as you can kick a ball and kick it pretty good you will be paid handsomely.

After George Floyds death in May 2020 and the protests that followed football leagues all over the world came to the conclusion that an anti-racism stance needed to be taken. After multiple campaigns over the last few decades a new campaign was born and teams were instructed to take a knee before kick-off. Pundits, commentators and players alike all seemed to be onboard and concluded that a stance like this was powerful and that it could be a catalyst that could eradicate or at least have a significant impact in the reduction of racism and discrimination. Those that pointed out that it was nothing more than virtue signalling were called out for their insensitivity or in the worst case branded racist themselves. Football clubs never resorted to banning players who refused to take a knee and gave each and every one of them to make an individual choice.

Fast forward to France in 2023. Mostafa Mohamed has been suspended by his team Nantes for refusing to wear a LGTBQ branded shirt. He didn’t refuse because he wouldn’t be respectful or courteous towards someone from the LGTBQ community, he simply refused because his religion doesn’t approve of this kind of lifestyle. Many argue he should not be forced to wear such a shirt and that football clubs such as Nantes should focus on their primary objective as a football club which is: TO WIN BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY! It is difficult to argue that not including Mohamed in Sunday’s squad against Toulouse was a decision that increased the likelihood of a win given the fact that Mohamed is one of the top scorers. The game ended in 0-0 and it might turn out come the end of the season that a goal from Mohamed could have been the difference between avoiding relegation and financial catastrophe in Ligue 2 next season. If Nantes does get relegated would the hierarchy really argue that it was the right call not to include Mohamed, to fine him, to orchestrate him from the squad. Will they argue that they had to protect the LGTBQ Community that they will take similar action in the future whether its only 1 of their players with a similar stance or 5.

Zakaria Aboukhlal has also found himself in some controversy. He similarly refused to take part in the Day against International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia campaign and initially the team “respected” his decision in doing so. Aboukhlal came out with a statement explaining the context of his decision and reaffirming his respect to all and every one.

In the days following his statement he has been suspended from 1^st team activity after a RMC news report accused him of speaking down to a female assistant of the major of Toulouse. Whether there’s any truth to this incident or whether Toulouse are capitalising on this alleged incident to assert their virtue remains to be seen. What is however evident is that players have discretion with regards to causes they chose to support. When it comes to voicing opposition to LGTBQ causes however they can be in for a bit of a storm..