France's sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera on Monday called for "the toughest sanctions" against Mohamed Camara and his club after the Monaco player taped over a badge in support of the LGBTQ community.
Malian star Camara, 24, covered the logo on the front of his playing jersey with white tape in a French Ligue 1 game on Sunday.
He also opted out of a pre-match photograph where the Monaco and Nantes teams stood behind a banner backing the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia.
"Such behaviour must be met with the toughest sanctions both for the player but also for his club which allowed him to do it," Oudea-Castera told French radio station RTL.
I helgen spelade hela Ligue 1 med ett märke där det stod ”homofobi” med ett rött streck över.
— Emelie Ölander (@EmelieOlander) May 20, 2024
Mohamed Camara tejpade över det.
Fritt fram att tejpa över ”No to racism” i L1 också?
Kom inte med religionskortet. Ska du få tro på vad du vill så ska jag få älska vem jag vill. pic.twitter.com/6QUp3XWY24
Unacceptable
The minister judged Camara's action “unacceptable".
"I've told the Professional Football League (LFP) what I thought about it," she added.
Monaco coach Adi Hutter was asked about Camara's stance after the game in which he scored one of the goals in a 4-0 win on the last day of the Ligue 1 season.
"First of all, I would like to say that we, as a club, support the operation organised by the league," said Hutter in reference to a league-wide initiative.
"For his part, it was a personal initiative. There will be an internal discussion with him about this situation. I will not comment further.”
For Jeff Puech, co-founder of the Inclusive Sport Foundation, this type of incident "is the exception that proves the rule”.
"There were only two players throughout Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, (Camara) and Nantes' Egyption forward Mostafa Mohamed who I think didn't play for 'diplomatic' reasons," Puech pointed out to AFP.
Mohamed Camara joue avec un strap sur le logo contre l'homophobie : "Je trouve que c'est un comportement inadmissible et doit faire l'objet de sanctions les plus fermes contre le joueur, mais aussi contre le club qui l'a laissé faire"@AOC1978 est l’invitée d’@amandine_begot… pic.twitter.com/v313WrDR04
— RTL France (@RTLFrance) May 20, 2024
"They are two players too many, but not a single coach, not a single official, refused to sport the logo.
"For example last year four Toulouse players refused, this year none, we carried out a three week workshop at the club, that effort has paid off," he added.
Puech praised the LFP as the only professional sports body in France "that is doing a lot”.
"I would like all the others to take part in a fundamental movement. But that will come."
AFP