The Professional Football League has decided this season to unite the campaign against racism, this weekend, and that against homophobia, for the last days of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 on May 17 and 18, a- we learned from the LFP on Thursday, confirming information from L’Équipe.
During the matches of the 27th day of Ligue 1 and the 30th day of Ligue 2, all players will wear a special jersey with a specific logo, symbol of the commitment against racism and competition badges, usually in color, will change to black and white. The same jerseys will be used for the 34th and final day of Ligue 1 and the 38th and last day of Ligue 2, with the L1 and L2 acronyms in rainbow on the badges and also the corner posts.
Last season, the day dedicated to the fight against homophobia gave rise to controversies, several players refusing to wear the jersey with LGBT colors such as Toulouse’s Zakaria Aboukhlal, Moussa Diarra and Saïd Hamulic or Nantes’ Mostafa Mohamed. “We only remembered the controversies,” regrets Yoann Lemaire, of “Foot ensemble” to justify the change in campaign method. Before the start of Ligue 1 matches, a giant tarpaulin on which the word “racism” is crossed out in favor of the word football will be deployed on the central circle. For the last day, the word “homophobia” will be crossed out.
In addition to these annual communication campaigns, the LFP, since November 2021, has organized awareness workshops throughout the year on the fight against discrimination, in particular against homophobia, racism and anti-Semitism in all areas. professional clubs. Seventy-four workshops were organized in 27 clubs for players, managers and supporters. The next ones will take place in April in Brest, Toulouse (L1) and Grenoble (L2). Since 2020, the League has included the fight against discrimination in its statutes, which makes it easier for it to become a civil party before the courts each time a criminal act is brought to justice. The 27th day of Ligue 1 opens on Friday with the Northern derby between Lille and Lens and closes on Sunday with the Marseille-Paris SG clasico.