Former Paris Saint-Germain player, Kheira Hamraoui, signed for Club America in September 2023. She now explains that she wants to play in a “healthy environment”, after the “traumatic moments” she experienced in the capital.
She broke the silence. Officially becoming a player for the Mexican team of Club America, Kheira Hamraoui returned for theAFP on the reasons for his departure from France and Paris Saint-Germain with whom his contract expired last June.
As a reminder, the 33-year-old woman suffered an attack in November 2021 and an investigation was opened for “criminal conspiracy” and “aggravated violence”. It was then expanded for “organized gang fraud” due to suspicions of actions in the entourage of Aminata Diallo, former PSG player and suspected of being involved in the attack on Hamraoui.
Why did you sign in Mexico? Do you feel liberated away from France?
The first is that I wanted and needed to know something else. I won everything in Europe, played in the biggest clubs (OL, PSG, Barcelona). I also needed to experience a new culture, a new football and rediscover the public’s enthusiasm for our sport (…) I am in a healthy environment and that is the most important thing. I experienced traumatic moments in France and being here can only do me good. After the attack I suffered, I was not spared by my club, social networks and the French press.
Did you want to turn the page on your time at Paris Saint-Germain? Do you blame your former club for the way it handled the aftermath of the attack?
I turned the page at the final whistle of my last match played with PSG. Some of my ex-teammates and club employees know to what extent I was mistreated by PSG after my attack (…) Perhaps PSG did not know or want to manage all this media attention to reasons other than sporting. They took the easy way out by trying to push me out before the end of my contract.
Looking back, do you still think that PSG “abandoned” you, if so why?
We should also and above all ask the PSG leaders about their attitude towards me. But I can say it today, PSG did me a lot of psychological harm.
You considered your non-selection for the French team for the World Cup last summer to be unfair. Do you have any hope for the Olympics at home next year?
My dream is to return there one day, even if I no longer have any hope. I was excluded before the World Cup for so-called sporting reasons (…) I am convinced that if I had been Swedish, English or Spanish, I would never have been abandoned by my federation or my club , as I was after my attack. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: in France, we don’t like victims.