The European champions are back.
While the Olympic qualifying tournaments (TQO) take place to determine the final field for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the heroes of January challenge Argentina, this Thursday, then Egypt, Saturday, in Montpellier on the occasion of the good named “trophy of the continents”.
The European champions will face the champions of Africa and the Americas.
For the occasion, coach Guillaume Gille selected 24 players: the twenty-three who prepared for the Euro plus Théo Monard, the Nantes pivot called in as reinforcement.
Four of them nevertheless returned home for minor minor injuries: Luka Karabatic, Nikola Karabatic, Samir Bellahcene and Nicolas Tournat.
In this list is Benoît Kounkoud.
The Kielce right winger has been accused since January 31 of attempted rape by a 21-year-old woman.
The day after the triumph in Cologne, the former PSG player was arrested late at night in a nightclub adjacent to the Champs-Élysées, then placed in police custody.
Benoît Kounkoud has always denied the facts with which he is accused but, according to our information, the investigation is still ongoing and the player therefore remains under threat of legal conviction.
However, he is still in the French team and Guillaume Gille accepts this choice.
“The French team is not intended to do justice and, until proven otherwise, Benoît is free,” believes the coach.
I am the first to wait for justice to do its work to have complete clarity on this matter.
In the meantime, for me, it was important to show him my support.
He's going through a complicated time and we're going through it with him.
Being subject to such accusations distances us from what we represent.
This is not like us.
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“His presence may be poorly perceived by some”
But that doesn't stop him from being present.
Present but invisible to the media, Benoît Kounkoud is defended by a collective which maintains 100% of its confidence in him.
“We know there is an ongoing investigation.
We'll see what she gives but it's important to support him from the moment Guillaume chose him, thinks Ludovic Fabregas, promoted to captain for the week in the absence of Luka Karabatic.
I know it makes him happy to be with us because before being his teammates, we are his friends.
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No one within the Blues therefore questions the presence of the former Parisian, who could honor his 45th selection on Thursday.
“Everyone can blame me for taking so-and-so.
Making choices is my job, insists the coach.
However, I am in a work phase during which I must take stock of the Euro.
All the people who participated are intended to be there to debrief and plan for the future.
Benoit is one of them.
This is what also guided my decision.
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Dika Mem shared her younger years with Kounkoud.
“He’s like my brother.
So I'm already super happy to see him with us, slips the Barcelonan.
I know that what he is accused of is not true.
He told me and I believe him.
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His club Kielce sidelined him for a month while awaiting further developments in the investigation before reinstating him a week ago in the Champions League.
“His presence, with everything that is happening at the moment, it can seem like a thorn in the side of the France team,” admits Dika Mem.
The subject is delicate and it gets people talking.
We are of course aware that its presence may be poorly perceived by some.
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