Idrissa Gueye traveled south to Montpellier along with his Paris St.-Germain teammates for the workforce’s league recreation on Saturday however wound up watching it from the stands. Gueye was not injured, his coach mentioned after P.S.G.’s victory: He “had to leave the team for personal reasons.”
Those private causes, a workforce supply confirmed Monday, have been that Gueye had refused to be part of his teammates in carrying a particular jersey that includes rainbow-colored numbers created to spotlight discrimination earlier than Tuesday’s world occasions marking the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. The jerseys have been a part of a coordinated leaguewide effort.
Gueye has not commented on his absence, however French information media stories, which have been first to report the explanation for Gueye’s lacking the sport on Saturday, rapidly famous that he had additionally missed the identical awareness-raising fixture final season. Last season’s absence was attributed to a abdomen concern, however this yr P.S.G.’s coach, Mauricio Pochettino, mentioned Gueye didn’t have any well being points.
Activist teams have been fast to denounce Gueye’s resolution to decline to put on the jersey. Rouge Direct, a bunch that fights homophobia in sports activities, referred to as on the French league, P.S.G. and Gueye to “explain themselves” and urged Gueye ought to be punished for his actions.
For P.S.G. the problem of help for homosexual rights and anti-homophobia efforts is a very delicate one. The workforce is owned by the Qatari state by its sovereign wealth fund, and Qatar itself has come underneath scrutiny amid considerations from the homosexual group about their security when the World Cup takes place within the Gulf nation later this yr. Homosexuality is in opposition to the regulation in Qatar, as it’s in different international locations within the Gulf, however World Cup organizers have insisted that each one followers can be welcome through the event.
Same-sex acts are additionally unlawful in Gueye’s native Senegal, the place ultraconservative teams have burned rainbow flags throughout public protests in opposition to homosexuality.
P.S.G. has not commented on Gueye past the feedback made by Pochettino after Sunday’s recreation.
The membership’s senior officers are presently in Qatar, in accordance to a workforce consultant, and it’s unclear what measures, if any, might be taken in opposition to Gueye, whose contract with P.S.G. expires on the finish of subsequent month.
P.S.G. is by far the largest workforce in France and attracts outsize curiosity, at dwelling and overseas, due to its star-studded roster, which this yr produced the membership’s eighth French championship prior to now 10 years. On Saturday at Montpellier, two of its star forwards — Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi — each scored targets, serving to to spotlight the specifically commissioned jersey they wore on social media and past.
According to the workforce supply with information of P.S.G.’s inside conversations over the weekend, membership officers had advised Gueye that the workforce was dedicated to the marketing campaign and that he had no choice however put on the identical jersey as the remainder of his teammates if he wished to play. When Gueye determined he wouldn’t, he was despatched to the stands for the sport, in accordance to an individual with information of the incident.
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