France's Sports Minister called for the Monaco soccer club to be sanctioned after one of its players covered an LGBTQ support message on the team's jersey during the team's final league match on Sunday.
The French league carried out its annual anti-discrimination campaign during this weekend's final round, with each team sporting a badge with the word “homophobia” crossed out.
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However, Monaco midfielder Mohamed Camara taped up the badge during his team's 4-0 win over Nantes, and also skipped the pre-match group photo, where all the players stood in front of a banner with The same message.
French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra called Camara's actions “unacceptable” and called for “firm sanctions” against both the player and the club.
Aurore Bergé, French Minister of Equality, also condemned Camara on social media.
“Homophobia is not an opinion, it is a crime,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “And homophobia kills. There must be a strict punishment for Mohamed Camara.”
Monaco coach Adi Hütter said after the match that the club supports the league's initiative and that Camara's actions were “a personal choice.”
The club said they would discuss the situation with Camara internally.
This is the fourth consecutive season that professional clubs in France have been invited to wear rainbow-colored numbers, armbands or patches on their jerseys to support the LGBTQ movement. Similar controversies arise every year.
In 2022, Senegal-born Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye, then playing for Paris Saint-Germain, refused to take part in a match that required players to wear shirts with rainbow-coloured numbers.
Senegal's president, Macky Sall, publicly supported Gueye and stated that “his religious convictions must be respected.”
Last year, Nantes fined Egyptian striker Mostafa Mohamed for similar reasons. Mohamed again did not play in Sunday's game. Camara also did not play in the equivalent game last season.
