Red Star drew (1-1) Friday evening against Nancy in the National (3rd division) Friday evening.
At the end of the meeting, Habib Beye was questioned about the intrusion of religious practice into football with Ramadan in particular.
Even if the position of the French Football Federation remains unambiguous on the subject with the intact desire of its leaders to ensure respect for the principle of neutrality and to ensure that religion
"does not interfere with the athlete",
as its president Philippe Diallo repeated to Le Figaro this week, the debate resurfaces every year.
On this point, Habib Beye does not at all share the position of the football authorities, believing that religious practice, whether Muslim (with Ramadan) or Christian (with Lent) in no way disrupts the smooth running of events. competitions.
“My position is that I really respect the faith of my players, whatever it may be, as long as I have players who are of the Muslim faith and who observe Ramadan – but I also have players who are doing Lent at the moment, it's 46 days, so it's different in the approach of this religion.
In any case, we allow ourselves to support our players in their faith, and no one says it, but what we must understand is that we only see the disadvantages.
Me, I only see the advantages: it creates cohesion.
it also creates discussions, it also creates solidarity that perhaps people do not see on a football field,”
explained the
Canal+ consultant.
At Red Star, Ramadan and Lent coexist
The former Olympique de Marseille defender goes further by denouncing a policy of stigmatization against Muslims in football.
“What I see today, what I hear, what I read, unfortunately, it is very hard to read, very hard for me to hear.
Because I call it religious discrimination and we can't behave that way.
Because if we do it on one religion, we must do it on all religions.
And that is not the case today,”
insisted the ex-defender before recalling that in his squad of 26 players, 19 are concerned with respect for religious practice (14 do Ramadan and 5 do Lent ).
We are dividing when today we should be uniting
Habib Beye
“I have immense respect for my players who are precisely in their faith because, what we don't realize is that at that moment, they find themselves with themselves, and that it is an additional strength for them. I hate this debate around religion because it shouldn't exist. This should not be a problem for any of the coaches who train players who are of multiple faiths and I say multiple because there is not only the Muslim religion today and we stigmatize this religion and that we are putting people in boxes. We are dividing when today we should be uniting, this logic of religion and above all sharing,”
added the Red Star coach.
Philippe Diallo and the FFF inflexible on the principle of neutrality in football
While several European countries have introduced a cooling break to adapt to Ramadan, the French Football Federation (FFF) is still opposed to this arrangement to break the fast during matches.
A position defended by Philippe Diallo in Le Figaro while the Blues were gathered at Clairefontaine this week to prepare two friendly matches.
“With regard to the selections, I reaffirmed that it is within this framework of neutrality that our selections operate concretely, that means that we do not modify the conditions of exercise of our selections for religious criteria.
I have passed this message to all the selections and I hope that it will be respected.
Which is the case until now, with this principle, recognized including by religious authorities, which consists of saying that when you are in the national selection and in competition, it is possible to postpone your practice.
So in my approach there is no stigmatization of anyone, there is absolute respect for everyone's convictions.
But when we are in the French team, we must respect a framework
,” declared the boss of the “3F”.