“I don’t have to order anything. We respect everyone’s religion. The players are used to it, it’s not today that we discovered the situation. I have no worries, everyone will adapt. » According to Didier Deschamps, the question of the management of Ramadan within the French football team seemed to be a non-subject, in the middle of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. One of the Muslim players in the French group that summer, Bacary Sagna, added: “To be honest, we never talked about it with the staff”.
Ten years later, times have seriously changed within the French Football Federation (FFF), since its president Philippe Diallo has just launched a “neutrality framework” for the French team. Concretely, internationals of Muslim faith are asked to postpone their days of fasting outside of training courses with the Blues, from the U16 selection to the A. The FFF does not modify the schedules of sessions, meetings and snacks, so it is Muslim players to adapt to these rules of international gatherings.
“Complicated to choose between football and religion”
Direct consequence: OL Franco-Malian midfielder Mahamadou Diawara (19 years old, 10 Ligue 1 matches and 3 caps with the French U19s), summoned to the Bleuets U19 group, declined selection last week under these conditions . The young Muslim player not wishing to “shift his practice of fasting”, as requested by the FFF, he did not go to Clairefontaine and is currently training with his club, while others have reluctantly complied . For Mahamadou Diawara, whom Mali would like to include in its national team for the Paris 2024 Olympics, as for other young Muslim dual nationals, can these new rules set by French football encourage them to change their sporting nationality?
“It’s quite possible because it’s complicated to ask a player to choose between football and religion,” says a sports agent in off. I have never heard of the slightest problem regarding the practice of Ramadan by my players outside France. For coaches and clubs, if fasting does not negatively impact the player’s performance, they have nothing to do with it. We see that with this new episode, the management of the Muslim religion is particular in France. »
In this regard, we remember that a strike by players from the Espoirs selection was in the air in March 2023, due to the wish of several players to practice fasting in full gathering, which was already not then allowed in Hopes. At the time, Kylian Mbappé published a message to deny any involvement in this quarrel between certain Espoirs and the Fédé. Since the start of this international break, the players of the France A team, who face Chile in a friendly on Tuesday (9 p.m.) in Marseille, have not taken a position on the sensitive subject of the start of spring.
Ben Seghir and Diarra give up the Blues, at 19 and 20 years old
A binational and Muslim professional footballer, born in France, and preferring to remain anonymous, confides: “In my experiences with clubs abroad, the coach just asks me if I practice Ramadan, and the debate is closed. On the other hand, during an U16 selection with the France team, several players hid to pray and fast. We felt that our practice would be poorly received, it was burdensome. This happened around ten years ago and we see that the leaders of French football are still not more open on this.”
For him, “it is 100% certain that this position of the FFF will encourage more and more young people to favor an African selection”. “The French team can obviously propel you higher, but the most important thing for a player is his peace of mind,” he continues. Even before the Mahamadou Diawara episode, the promising Eliesse Ben Seghir (Monaco) and Habib Diarra (Strasbourg) recently made the choice to renounce the Espoirs selection, despite the prospect of competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics, in order to join Morocco and Senegal, at only 19 and 20 years old. Long before their blue horizon is certainly blocked sportingly.
“No teaching at all with young players”
A few months earlier, Amine Gouiri (24 years old, Stade Rennais) and Yasser Larrouci (23 years old, Sheffield United) had done the same by joining Algeria, while the Niçois Sofiane Diop (23 years old) and the former Toulousain Amine Adli (23 years old), had gone from French Espoirs to Maroc A. Such examples have multiplied in recent months, without the question of practicing the Muslim religion being mentioned in their choice to give up the blue jersey. Former French Espoirs midfielder Ricardo Faty (37), who became a Senegalese A international in 2012, and is Muslim, refuses to make the connection, but does not understand the rigidity of this “neutrality framework” of the French body.
“What bothers me the most is to see the FFF arbitrarily ban the practice of Ramadan,” says the former AS Roma player. There are more and more players of Muslim faith and we see that many French clubs have integrated this. But at the level of the French teams, there is no teaching at all with young players, and in my opinion it is counterproductive. » His big brother Jacques Faty (40 years old), who played the blue jersey of the U14s at the Espoirs, before also opting for the Senegalese selection, looks back on the daily life of a practicing Muslim in Clairefontaine in the 2000s.
“ From the U19 category, I felt that the FFF was starting to tighten the screws, even though there were few participants. I perfectly understood coach René Girard, who felt that it was his responsibility, as an educator, to tell me that he preferred that I not fast when there was a match. There was dialogue between us. Personally, during gatherings, I isolated myself in the shower to pray and I felt that people were talking behind my back. We Muslims were never told anything directly, but some were then not recalled for selection, without any real reason given. Personally, my captain’s armband was taken away from me in Espoirs and I saw a link with my practice of religion which disturbed people at the FFF. » »
Dual nationals targeted earlier and earlier
This shows that French football’s difficulties in properly supporting its Muslim players are not recent. Former national technical director (DTN) of Morocco, before occupying this position since 2022 in Saudi Arabia, Nasser Larguet does not however believe in an increased flight of young binational talents due to their wish to fast thwarted during rallies.
“The question of Ramadan has never been an argument of choice to convince a dual national to favor a selection other than France, and I don’t think it will become one,” believes the former OM coach. Already because the dates of Ramadan change from one calendar year to the next, so it may not fall at all into international events. And then many players have gotten into the habit of postponing Ramadan days when there is a high-level competition, as was the case for our Saudi selection at the last U17 tournament in Montaigu. »
For Nasser Larguet, the main reason for an anticipated sporting exile towards African selections lies elsewhere: “The African national teams are structured well and they have understood the importance of rejuvenating themselves, and therefore of convincing dual nationals earlier and earlier. to join them. The younger these players are, the more they will register over time. Ben Seghir, for example, must have been seduced by the fact of being able to play in A much more quickly with Morocco than with France.
“Religious discrimination” according to Habib Beye
Buoyed by its feat of reaching the final four of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the selection of the Atlas Lions symbolizes the new ambitions of African football. “Yes, there is the sporting plan with the enormous progress of the African selections,” approves Jacques Faty. If we combine this with the religious dimension, which is not framed in a respectful and tolerant manner in France, it can push our young players to imagine their international future elsewhere. I see a real danger there for the French team. While the strength of our country has always been diversity, we are in 2024 and the FFF is radical, lagging behind what is happening in other countries. » This is also the point of Habib Beye, who delivered an inspiring opening speech, Friday after the National match between Red Star and Nancy (1-1).
“We only see the disadvantages but I only see the advantages,” announces the Franco-Senegalese coach of Red Star, who explains that he is not Muslim. It creates cohesion and solidarity in my team. It’s very hard to see everything that’s happening in France, I call it religious discrimination. It bothers me that we can think that players are not performing well because they are doing Ramadan. They find themselves with themselves and this is an additional strength for them. »
In its leading National group, 14 players have been practicing Ramadan since March 11, while five others are doing Lent. “I hate this debate around religion which should not exist,” concludes Habib Beye. Philippe Diallo, aware of the flammable nature of the case, defended himself on Sunday on France Info to prohibit anyone from fasting during selection, but without changing anything in substance of their position: “It is a bad case that is being made against the federation. My duty is to set a framework in sports practice, as in school. When players go to the selection, I don’t ask them their religion.”