The commission of the French Professional Football League sanctioned Paris Saint-Germain this Thursday with the closure of a sector of the stands at the Parc des Princes during a match. The punishment is due to the homophobic chants that PSG fans launched from the Auteuil stands in the match against Olympique de Marseille on September 24, for ten minutes and after the final whistle, taking advantage of the fact that several of the Parisian players met with the fans gathered in that area of the stadium to celebrate the victory.
Four of Luis Enrique's footballers were seen shouting insults against their rivals: Ousmane Dembélé, Randal Kolo Muani, Achraf Hakimi and Layvin Kurzawa. These footballers apologized on Sunday on social networks saying that they "sincerely regret" some words that “ we should never have said." "We are very aware of the impact of our gestures and our words on the public, especially the youngest ones who dream in front of a football match," they added, and "in the future we will do everything to respect even more our duty of exemplarity".
The disciplinary commission of the French Professional Football League (LFPF) took into account the public forgiveness of the players who alleged yesterday by videoconference before the committee and justifying their actions as a moment of euphoria. The disciplinary committee ruled in that same session on the homophobic chants of the PSG radicals against Olympique de Marseille and sanctioned the Parisian club with the closure of the Auteuil fund for a firm match that will be against Strasbourg on October 21. In addition, another meeting exempt from compliance must be added.
The players involved in the case will be able to play the next day with the French team because the suspension ordered does not come into force, unless there is a repeat offense. PSG had shown its "condemnation of all forms of discrimination, especially homophobia", and recalled that this "has no place either in stadiums or in society." In fact, on the evening of the 24th, during the D1 women's match between Paris-SG and Olympique Lyonnais in the Parc des Princes, the Parisian ultras displayed for several minutes in the Auteuil stands a banner “Paris against the discrimination and recovery.
Last season, the disciplinary committee of the French LFP imposed some 202 sanctions for acts of discrimination, the vast majority of homophobic nature, during 175 matches: 106 calls to order, 61 suspended fines, 34 firm fines and the closure of a stand. (banners during Montpellier-Nantes). Ligue1 has implemented several actions to combat this problem, such as requiring players to wear a shirt with a rainbow print.
