The ex-Parisian coach spoke on Sunday for the first time since his ouster from PSG. He spoke in particular about the accusations of discrimination and moral harassment against him.
After months of silence, Christophe Galtier put an end to his silence on Sunday September 17. Sacked from his position as coach of Paris Saint-Germain on July 5, the former coach of Lille, Nice and Saint-Etienne gave an interview to Canal+to look back on the past year, rich in controversies.
“I haven’t spoken before, because there was such a media outpouring on such sensitive subjects. […] It’s very difficult to bear, especially since I think it’s unfair. I suffered the blow, but now I’m very combative.”, he began. As a reminder, the latter is subject to a preliminary investigation for “discrimination based on alleged race or religious affiliation.”
The trial scheduled for December 15
These accusations, dating back to his last season in Nice (2021-2022), he continues to deny them outright. “I do not accept that anyone can say that I am a racist”he defended himself on Sunday Canal+while he will be tried in December for moral harassment and discriminatory remarks. “It’s false, extremely false, football people know me”added Christophe Galtier.
“I am not accused of racism, the prosecutor is referring me to court for two offenses. The first for moral harassment of certain players, the second for discrimination, it is totally different.”
Christophe Galtierat Canal+
As a reminder, this affair broke out after the revelation of an email addressed to the management of the Nice club, in which the sporting director of the Aiglons, Julien Fournier, said: “He then replied to me that I had to take into account the reality of the city and that indeed, we could not have so many blacks and Muslims on the team. […] He told me of his desire to fundamentally change the team, also specifying that he wanted to limit the number of Muslim players as much as possible.”
Placed in police custody on this subject last June, Christophe Galtier risks up to three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros. “I know, but I’m going to explain it in December, that’s for sure.” Formally, the coach assures that he had not targeted the players doing Ramadan: “As a coach I have only one obsession: the health of the players, the performance of my team. My players managed Ramadan as they wanted, and they all played.”
The 2021 and 2023 French champion also returned to the sand yachting episode: “It was humor that we can do between us, not in public”. Finally, he assured that he had good memories of his year in Paris, although tumultuous: “I worked with a very good group, the opposite of what the media made of it. I had fun training this group. I am proud of one thing: obtaining this 11th title champion of France.”