accused of attempted rape, Benoît Kounkoud suspended by his club

The Polish club Kielce announced on Friday February 2 that it had suspended handball player Benoît Kounkoud, who had just been crowned European champion with the Blues and accused of attempted rape in France. “He is prohibited from representing the club in our team’s matches until the matter is clarified by the French authorities“, specified in a press release the Kielce club, where the player, aged 26, has been playing since 2022.

The player was taken into custody on the night of Monday January 29 to Tuesday January 30 for attempted rape in a nightclub in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It was lifted on Wednesday during the day. “The investigation continues, in particular in order to collect more testimonies”the prosecution then told AFP.

Kounkoud, accused by a 20-year-old woman of trying to rape her in a Parisian nightclub on the night of Monday to Tuesday, “strongly contests” these accusationsseriously misleading”according to his lawyer.

Kielce, Polish giant of European handball, has 20 Polish championship titles to its name, as well as a Champions League (2016), a competition in which it was finalist in the last two editions.