PSG coach Christophe Galtier detained for probing over defamatory allegation

The manager and his son who is a football agent have been arrested for probing after claims that the gaffer made racist and Islamophobic remarks about players during his spell at OGC Nice in the 2021/2022 season.

The investigation into the incident is said to have begun in April 2023 after French media leaked an email from Nice’s former director of football, Julien Fournier, in which he accused Galtier of complaining that “too many Black and Muslim players” in the Nice squad.

“He [Galtier] told me that I should take account of the reality of the city and that in effect we should not have as many blacks and Muslims in the team.

He told me he wanted to profoundly change the team’s make-up and limit the maximum number of Muslims,” Fournier said as quoted by Aljazeera.

Galtier, in a statement released in April 2023, reacted to the insulting and defamatory allegation, stating he was stunned by the claims.

“Given the seriousness of the accusations against him, and which he firmly denies, Christophe Galtier has asked his lawyer to begin without delay the judicial proceedings which are all the more necessary given that, since this came out, he has been the target of intolerable threats and harassment,” the statement said.

Christophe Galtier further filed a defamatory suit against Julien Fournier and the journalist who made the publication.

The former Olympique Marseille player spent one season at Nice before joining PSG in the summer of 2022.