Homophobia in French football: what are the governing bodies doing to end it?

The flood of homophobic comments, sadly commonplace on social media, has not spared one of the latest Instagram posts by footballer Benjamin Pavard, in which he appears in a fitted white tank top. The responses from his French team-mates have sparked outraged reactions from internet users, who found them inappropriate: Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé reacted with crying emojis; Marcus Thuram wrote that he was "lost the words."

The Rouge Direct collective, created to raise awareness of homophobic attitudes in football, denounced the attitude of these "star footballers who have clearly never been made aware of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity" , and regretted this missed opportunity by the French Football Federation (FFF) to make itself heard. Its president, Philippe Diallo, had nevertheless assured , in 2023 , that the fight against all forms of violence and discrimination now occupied a central place within French football.

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