French media said, on Sunday, that 5 Muslim players in the French Football League refused to wear T-shirts with a slogan supporting homosexuality.
The French newspaper “L’Equipe” said that the Egyptian, Mostafa Mohamed, the striker of the “Nantes” team, informed the club officials of his refusal to wear the team’s shirt that bears the slogan of support for homosexuality during his team’s match against Toulouse in the 35th round of the French League.
The newspaper reported that the Egyptian striker Mostafa traveled with the Nantes squad to Toulouse, but decided to stay in the hotel and not go to the stadium after refusing to wear the gay shirt.
Mustafa, 25, who plays on loan from Galatasaray, participated in the Nantes matches. all of which This season, whether as a starter or substitute, he scored 8 goals in 34 league matches.
And the French “RMC Sport” network stated that 4 players in the ranks of the Toulouse team refused to participate in the match for the same reason.
The network stated that the players are Moroccan Zakaria Abu Khalil, Algerian Fares Chaibi, Bosnian Saeed Hamulic, and Malian Moussa Diarra.
The two teams’ match ended without goals, and the two clubs announced that the match had been delayed by an hour and a half due to suspicions about a “suspicious bag.”
“Some players from the squad expressed their dissatisfaction with their association with the colors of the rainbow representing the LGBT community,” Toulouse said in a statement.
He added, “While we respect the personal choices of the players, and after many discussions, the Toulouse club decided to exclude the players from the match.”
And the French League, in the first and second tiers, asked players to wear shirts with rainbow numbers in support of LGBT people.
The Moroccan Abu Khallal, 23, confirmed that he had already refused to participate in the match, and confirmed with a statement on his Twitter account respect for everyone, asking others to respect his beliefs.
He wrote: “I have made my decision not to participate in today’s match. Respect is a value that I value very much and that extends to others, but that also includes respecting my personal beliefs.”
“Because of that, I don’t think I’m the right person to participate in such a promotional campaign,” he added.
Abu Khallal participated in the Toulouse matches all of which In the league this season, he scored 8 goals in 34 matches, and scored a goal during Toulouse’s 5-1 victory over Nantes in the French Cup final on April 29.
