Former hope of the Toulouse Football Club (TFC) training center, the Frenchman of Tunisian origin Ouissem Belgacem told, in 2021, in Farewell my shame (Fayard) sound “inner chaos”, how his homosexuality – hidden for twenty years – deprived him of a professional career. Two years later, he continued this story in an eponymous documentary series that he played and WHO will be broadcast in early June on Canal+.
What would have happened if Ouissem Belgacem had revealed his homosexuality when he was at the Toulouse training center? “No one would have spoken to him anymore. (…)for sure “assures, in the documentary series, Etienne Capoue, his former comrade from the TFC, who has become a French international.
To change mentalities, Ouissem Belgacem, 35, is working today – on a voluntary basis – to educate players in training centers when he is invited by clubs. But the fight against homophobia in football remains an uphill battle. “Sometimes I feel like I’m alone in front of a mountain”he assures Monde by designating the authorities of French football.
As a reminder, while abroad very few players have come out, such as the Australian Josh Cavallo or the Czech Jakub Jankto, in France, no active Ligue 1 or Ligue 2 player has ever revealed his homosexuality.
A handful of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 players refused to wear the rainbow flocked jerseys on the weekend of May 13 and 14. What lesson do you draw from the annual initiative of the Professional Football League (LFP) linked to the World Day Against Homophobia?
The lesson is that this initiative does not work… Even if all the players wear this jersey. If we did it on a voluntary basis, we could at least see those who support the fight against homophobia. There, I don’t see any post on the player’s social networks that would say: “I am very proud to have participated in this action. The players do it because they have to, but deep down do they really believe in it?
It’s not because we raise the rainbow flag once a year on the football fields, at all costs, that people will suddenly wake up less homophobic. To fight against homophobia, you have to educate: take the time to train and rehearse.
The players of Toulouse FC, Zakaria Aboukhlal, and FC Nantes, Mostafa Mohamed, asked, via a post on social networks, that we “respect” their “personal beliefs”, those who are Muslims. What do you have to tell them?
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