Gueye becomes Mans shareholder: his 2022 rainbow armband refusal resurfaces

The announcement of Idrissa Gueye’s entry into Mans FC’s capital on September 23 immediately reignited the controversy that erupted in May 2022, when the Senegalese midfielder refused to play in a Ligue 1 match dedicated to fighting homophobia.

The Sarthe club announced simultaneously the arrival of two new international shareholders: Brazilian Lucas Leiva and Gueye, 37, a figure at the ForHope Campus training center. While the midfielder’s investment is presented as a lever for development toward the African continent, it immediately provoked a reaction from LGBTI+ center Homogène.

“The arrival of Mr. Gueye makes us fear a new normalization of LGBTphobic behavior, in a sport where homophobia is already institutional,” the association wrote in a statement published on social media. It also fears “a deterioration of Mans’ image, which has been a pioneer on several fronts of LGBT struggles for many years.”

In May 2022, “Gana” Gueye, then a Paris Saint-Germain player, withdrew from the Ligue 1 match in which players were to wear numbers in rainbow colors. His absence was widely interpreted as a refusal to support the LGBT cause, motivated by his religious convictions. The affair took on national significance: the FFF’s national ethics council asked him for explanations, French political figures and several associations denounced his stance, while Senegalese president Macky Sall publicly expressed his support.

Gueye thus joins Mans’ capital alongside a list that notably includes Novak Djokovic and Thibaut Courtois. The question of how the club will manage this controversy remains, for now, without public answer.