Former Nice Coach Galtier Faces Trial Amid New Racism Allegations

The newspaper L’Équipe returned to these allegations, initially revealed in April by RMC, which include racist and discriminatory remarks reported by Julien Fournier, former sports director of Nice. These accusations notably concern pressures exerted on Muslim players to make them not fast during Ramadan.

New testimonies have further weighed down the case against Galtier, now coach in Qatar. Frédéric Goia, Galtier’s former assistant at Nice, reported discriminatory remarks made by Galtier during the arrival of player Bilal Brahimi. According to Goia, Galtier would have expressed his refusal to welcome other Muslim players. In addition, Julien Fournier also reported similar remarks from the former PSG coach, according to which he explicitly rejected black and Arab players.

The testimony of a former Nice player, Jean-Clair Todibo, was also added to the heavy file, stating that Galtier had pressed him to break his Ramadan fast and had insulted him as a "Salafist" and "extremist" following his refusal.

Faced with these accusations, the lawyers maintain the version of their client who has taken refuge in Qatar and claim that Christophe Galtier "is finally awaiting this public and adversarial debate where he will demonstrate that he has obviously never discriminated against or harassed anyone" and "his professional career and his reputation testify to his irreproachable personality".