Monaco’s Camara banned for covering LGBTQ+ badge

Monaco midfielder Mohamed Camara has been handed a four-match ban by the French football league (LFP) after covering up an anti-homophobia message on his shirt in a Ligue 1 match.

Monaco players had the symbol of ‘homophobie’ (homophobia) with a red cross through it on their shirts during their final Ligue 1 match of the season against Nantes, but 24-year-old Camara used white tape to cover up the symbol on his shirt.

The Malian international also did not take part in a pre-match photo between Monaco and Nantes players, who stood in front of a banner in support of the international day against homophobia, biphobia, interphobia, and transphobia.

Camara scored a penalty in the 4-0 victory for Monaco, who finished second in Ligue 1 this season — nine points behind champions Paris Saint-Germain.

On Thursday, the LFP confirmed Camara would be banned for four games.

The league said in a statement: “After hearing the player Mohamed Camara, and noting his refusal during the meeting to carry out one or more actions to raise awareness of the fight against homophobia, the Commission decided to impose a four-match suspension.”

Camara hid the symbol displayed on all the Monaco shirts (NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images)

The decision came 10 days after the French sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera called for the “strongest sanctions” to be imposed against the player.

“It is unacceptable behaviour,” Oudea-Castera told French radio station RTL after the match. “I had the chance to tell the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) what I thought about it last night and I think such behaviour must be subject to the strongest sanctions against the player and the club which allowed it to happen.”

Monaco’s general manager Thiago Scuro had said after the incident that the club “support the league’s action” and outlined how he had called LFP director general Arnaud Rouger to “apologise” on behalf of the club.

“Mo did this for religious reasons,” said Scuro. “It’s a very sensitive subject at all levels, because we also have to respect all religions. But as an organisation, we are very sad about this episode and we want to make it clear that we do not support this.”

Monaco head coach Adi Hutter said after the game: “I would like to say that we, as a club, support the operation organised by the league. For his part, it was a personal initiative. There will be an internal discussion with him about this situation. I will not comment further.”

Clubs in France’s top two divisions had shown their support for the LGBTQ+ community by customising their shirts with the rainbow symbol for one matchday in each the last three seasons as part of a league campaign.

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Last year, managers wore rainbow armbands and players wore shirts featuring rainbow colours, which were sold at auction to raise funds for anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination charities. In 2022 and 2021, shirts featured rainbow-coloured numbers on the back.

The campaign has previously been met with some resistance. Last season, Toulouse left some players out of their matchday squad to face Nantes after they disagreed with the club taking part in the anti-homophobia campaign.

Idrissa Gueye missed Paris Saint-Germain’s match against Montpellier in May 2022 after players were asked to wear shirts with rainbow numbers, having also missed the equivalent match the previous season. He was criticised by a number of political figures in France but received support in his native Senegal, where homosexuality is illegal.