Football: racism, “another Muslim”… Details of the accusations against Christophe Galtier

Christophe Galtier will be tried before the Nice criminal court on December 15 for “counts of moral harassment and discrimination based on belonging or not belonging, true or supposed, to an ethnic group, a nation, a so-called race or a specific religion”, in the words of the Nice public prosecutor, Xavier Bonhomme. These accusations relate to his period as coach of OGC Nice, during the 2021-22 season, just before joining Paris Saint-Germain.

While awaiting the trial, many people were interviewed as part of an investigation. The newspaper L’Équipe reveals what several members of the OGC Nice management told the judicial police. As a reminder, the accusations, formulated vaguely by the former sports director of the Nice club, Julien Fournier, in September 2022, took on another dimension in April 2023.

An email, written by Fournier and addressed to Dave Brailsford, football director of Ineos, owner of OGC Nice, was then leaked. We learned that, during a meal at a restaurant, Galtier had asked Fournier to take “the reality of the city into account” when recruiting, and that the team could not have so many “blacks”. and Muslims.

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According to L'Équipe, Frédéric Gioria, former player and captain of OGC Nice in the 1990s and now assistant coach at the club, confirmed having heard Galtier himself mention this story. Gioria also reportedly told the police about Galtier's anger upon learning of the recruitment of Billal Brahimi, a Franco-Algerian winger. “Another Muslim, I don’t want it, we’ve had enough,” said Galtier. Still according to Gioria, the 57-year-old coach said that “the worst are the Algerians” during training during which he was annoyed by players Youcef Atal and Hicham Boudaoui, Algerian internationals.

The Team also cites the testimony of Hachim Ali Mbaé, former video analyst at OGC Nice, now head of the video unit in Strasbourg. The latter shared with investigators the memory of a half-time against Saint-Étienne, in September 2021. Galtier would have described the two Stéphanois defenders, Mickaël Nadé and Harold Moukoudi, as “two King Kongs”.

Galtier would also have, during his year in Nice, opposed Ramadan on match days. “They are too extreme,” he would have said one day, according to Hachim Ali Mbaé, about the Algerian players. French defender and international Jean-Clair Todibo told police he had received pressure from Galtier to break his fast, as did Hicham Boudaoui.

Todibo, still at Nice, also rewinds a scene in pre-season, a friendly match against Udinese in which he and teammate Hassane Kamara strongly contested a refereeing decision. Not to the taste of Galtier who would have stormed: “You never do that here, we are not in the 9-3.” Kamara, also questioned by investigators, gave the same version of the facts, stressing that he had already been described as “scum” by his coach.

As for Julien Fournier, also questioned by the police, he mentioned a meeting on March 31, 2022, the day before the start of Ramadan. During this meeting which concerned the future summer transfer window, Galtier would have requested the departure of several players (Atal, Boudaoui, Todibo...), “almost only Muslims”, notes L’Équipe. Fournier would have suggested recruits, in particular the Turk Ozan Kabak, encountering the refusal of Galtier. “Julien, you still don’t understand. I don’t want any more blacks or Arabs,” Galtier would have clarified according to Fournier.

Searches carried out at OGC Nice on April 14, 2023, which also made it possible to search Galtier's personal computer, yielded nothing. The Marseille native left PSG last summer after just one season, which was disappointing on a sporting level. He bounced back to the Qatari club Al-Duhail, where he was appointed coach in mid-October. From the start, including during his police custody in June 2023, Galtier has flatly denied the accusations made against him.