Muslim coach removed by French football club over unproven claims he prayed in changing room

CanCan one dismiss a football coach over suspicions that he breached the law and regulations on secularism without the slightest material evidence? And without first initiating any proceedings or administrative process, and with absolutely no written record of events?

“That's exactly what I'm the victim of,” says Sidi, 39, former coach of the football team at Cenon, in the suburbs of Bordeaux, south-west France. According to Mediapart's information, the mere suspicion that Muslim prayers were said in his club's changing rooms quickly escalated. For three months the state prefecture in the département or county of Gironde, acting through the local town hall, piled on the pressure. The prefecture even blocked thousands of euros in state grants to the sports club in order to get the trainer removed.

Three officials resigned over the affair and the parent sports club - Union Sportive Cenon (US Cenon) – has now been placed under administrative supervision, though both the local town hall and the Gironde prefecture declined to give any explanation for this. As far as the town hall is concerned Sidi was simply “not retained”.

Sidi's arrival at the club had been universally welcomed. He worked as a town council employee at the local games library and also at the football club, becoming coach in 2020. His annual appraisals were full of praise and the Cenon team began an astonishing run. Playing in the Regional 3 league in 2021, the team won promotion to Regional 2 the following year and just three years later it was competing in Regional 1. In two seasons it won 30 matches and lost just three in an historic transformation of the team's fortunes.

Everything changed on April 16th 2023 during a quarter-final match in the Aquitaine cup, a regional competition. The team was playing on the main town football pitch in front of its usual crowd, who cheered on another victory.

At the end of the game the ground emptied but another match was taking place on a neighbouring pitch, one that is often used by youngsters who are not registered playing members of the club.

On that day, which was in the middle of the Muslim festival of Ramadan, some people prayed and photos were taken to record this “breach of secularism”. The people taking part in the prayers had nothing to do with the club, and no club player or coach was present. But the matter led to questions being raised at the town hall and with the local municipal police.

A report subsequently sent to the local mayor referred to these prayers. But further accusations appeared in the letter too, this time targeting the club's coach and its director. A sworn witness, whose identity has not been divulged, spoke of “suspicions of prayers before and after the match on April 16th in a changing room with the passive complicity of [club] officials, the senior team coach (Sidi) and the sporting director”. On the basis of this one document things quickly got out of hand.

The prefecture in Gironde called in the mayor, the chair of the football section of the sports club, Christophe R., and the president of the parent sports club, Marinette L., to ask them to conduct an internal inquiry and to take swift and strong measures to remind people of the rules on secularism in such an environment. This investigation concluded there were no such prayers, as both the coach and the director denied they had taken place.

At the same time the sports club US Cenon implemented several measures. The ban on prayers was mentioned in the internal rules, training was provided, and a letter was sent to all registered members.

“As everyone denied it and no material evidence existed, we thought that after the conclusions of that internal investigation the case would be closed,” a club official told Mediapart. But this was not enough for the authorities; during a further meeting held at the prefecture on June 5th 2023 the regional director for youth and sport insisted that the coach had to be removed, despite the results of the internal investigation.

Grant threat

According to several witnesses to whom Mediapart has spoken, the threat was very clear: as long as Sidi remained coach all grants paid to the football club would be blocked. According to Mediapart's information, 100,000 euros were blocked with the possibility that in the long term the club would be deprived of as much as a million euros or more.

When contacted by Mediapart the authorities declined to confirm this. The town's mayor Jean-François Ergon, from the Socialist Party, refused to confirm or deny the grant threat. “I won't respond to that question, it's down to the prefecture to reply to you,” he said. Rather than defending his employee or opposing the prefecture's instructions, he suggested that there was no issue and certainly no injustice. “The club decided not to renew his membership registration, end of story,” he said.

The prefecture did not wish to comment, saying that it did not want to interfere with the legal proceedings that are now in progress. “It's possible that this information has been communicated to you, but it's mistaken,” the regional director for youth and sport said.

Yet many documents obtained by Mediapart show how the prefecture exerted pressure, outside of any normal proceedings. After the demand was made for the coach not to have his membership renewed, the president of US Cenon, Marinette L, the president of the football section at the club, Christophe R., and sporting director Dorian G., all resigned. While they did not want to speak to Mediapart, all had previously indicated that they were unhappy with what they saw, in effect, as blackmail.

In a letter sent to the club on June 15th 2023, Marinette L., who had been in charge of US Cenon for more than 20 years, confirmed that all grants were being blocked by the prefecture until the coach left. In a letter sent to the town hall on July 28th to explain his own resignation, Christophe R., who had headed the football section for 18 years, also criticised the prefecture's attitude.

“[The representative for youth and sport] indicated he had proof of Muslim prayers inside sporting structures and that a 'toxic system' had developed at the club. He asked for the non-renewal of trainer Mr Sidi's membership registration,” wrote Christophe R. in his resignation letter. He added: “The threat concerning not implementing this demand by the prefecture was the ending of various state grants received by the town and US Cenon.”

Christophe R. also wrote that he had asked the prefect, Étienne Guyot, for “material evidence to support the accusations” so that he could then obey this instruction. “Despite my request, no facts were brought to me. Since when, and in the absence of any material proof, I have refused to take this decision...”

While the town hall and prefecture denied any suggestion of blackmail, a subsequent meeting contradicted this view. On June 15th 2023 a club management committee meeting was held, which was attended not just by the management at US Cenon but also by an assistant mayor at the town, in order to officially record the resignations and to place the club under supervision.

According to recordings of the meeting consulted by Mediapart, the assistant mayor – who has responsibility for sport – explicitly acknowledged there had been some pressure and even spoke of a “dramatic” financial situation as a result of the prefecture's decision. “This all comes from the prefecture, and if the prefecture says 'that's how it is', the town hall does as the prefecture says,” he can be heard saying. “The prefect has decided that Mr Sidi had to be stopped from renewing his membership registration, the prefecture has suspended the grants, so we have no choice. The grants are suspended, now US Cenon must do everything to show that an effort is being made ...”

A prefect 'playing the cowboy'

During that same meeting the majority of the presidents of the 17 other sports sections within the sports club said they regretted having to play the role of “vigilantes”, complained about the lack of material evidence, and laid into Étienne Guyot, who was described as a “prefect who plays the cowboy”.

They also criticised the consequences of this “blackmail” which, according to them, had already being implemented. The president of the judo section explained how he had had to cancel an important trip to Prague for his team and revealed that he was already anticipating a “rise in subscriptions for 2024”. The head of the committee went even further: “In the end, the sports club is going to have major problems surviving.”

Despite all this, that day the club's section presidents voted unanimously for the coach's club membership not to be renewed. It apparently made no difference that more than 30 members of the club had given written statements rejecting all the accusations. Five days later, without any disciplinary committee having met and therefore “without any explanation”, Sidi received a letter from the club and learnt of his removal in these brief words: “I confirm that your football membership registration has not been renewed.”

“I had people accusing me who didn't call me in, who produced no evidence and who have left no written trace,” complains the coach. “That's not what's done under the rule of law, how can I defend myself?” he asks. Sidi acknowledged to Mediapart that he had prayed in the changing room in the past but denied any proselytism and disputed “all the accusations” concerning that particular match.

“At no time did he organise prayers or use the club to hold a religious ritual,” insists Sidi's lawyer Sefen Guez Guez. Approached by Mediapart, three former officials at US Cenon also criticised a “completely arbitrary” procedure and “unacceptable blackmail”. The head of the municipal police, who was at the ground on April 16th 2023, meanwhile confirmed: “We weren't in the changing rooms. This was reported to us but we did not factually establish any incriminating evidence.”

It remains unclear, therefore, just why action outside the usual procedures was taken against the coach. “I think that this goes beyond the club,” says one local councillor who wishes to remain anonymous. “A while before two associations had refused to sign a republican charter. That episode and the unauthorised prayers on the ground led the prefect to want to make a point, and it was the coach who was hit.” Another councillor said: “But if the facts were true and established then his membership registration should have been blacklisted for the whole league after a disciplinary hearing, and proceedings should have begun at the town hall as he is still a municipal worker.”

Discrimination complaint

Sidi explains that he suffered “post-traumatic shock” after his removal from the club and has a medical certificate to prove it. He has since gone on anti-depressants and was signed off work for three months. On top of the impact on his health, the former Cenon coach points out that the affair has in effect ended his future career plans. He was due to have become a paid employee at the club the following year, and had intended to train for a diploma as a football coach. But that has all been stopped in its tracks.

“With this kind of reputation I can no longer now do anything,” says Sidi, who has since launched legal actions against the club: a criminal complaint against persons unnamed for “discrimination”, “defamation” and “abuse of power”, and a civil suit. In his legal statement of claims, seen by Mediapart, the coach's lawyer says his removal was “abusive” and estimates the cost of the psychological damage and loss of future employment at 90,000 euros.

“This punishment should have been decided by the disciplinary committee,” says lawyer Sefen Guez Guez. “Moreover, the directives from the Ministry of Sport are clear: in such circumstances it's essential to establish a dialogue. That wasn't the case with my client who was directly accused without having the possibility of defending himself against those allegations.”

“I even contacted the [police intelligence department] for Bordeaux to find out what they were accusing me of,” says Sidi. “They simply advised me to apply to the Commission d’Accès aux Documents Administratifs [editor's note, the independent body that arbitrates over the public's access to official documents] to try to find at least some written record in this whole affair.”

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• The original French version of this article can be found here.

English version by Michael Streeter