At a high-stakes Champions League match on nov 7th‚ Bruno Retailleau the French Interior Minister got upset about a huge pro-palestine banner shown at PSGʼs home stadium; calling it not-ok and asking for a full report from the club
The ultra-fans group (who made this banner outside the stadium) explained their point: “Our message wasnt meant to spread hate but to call for peace between people“ The Qatar-owned club quickly said they didnt know about this plan‚ stating that Parc des Princes must stay politics-free
Victoriano Melero PSGʼs director and Philippe Diallo from French Football Federation got called to meet with govt officials on friday morning; however UEFA - the main football authority in Europe wont punish the club since they dont see this message as mean or hostile
This all happens just a week before France plays Israel in Paris (a game that makes security folks nervous). The timing is extra-sensitive because of whats been going on in middle-east since last fall: thousands died in both gaza and israel after oct 7th events. Similar stuff happened before - like when Celticʼs fans got a €17‚500 fine for showing palestine flags at their game last year
The minister pointed fingers at club leaders: “We need to know how that banner got in and who put it up“ PSGʼs statement was clear-cut: “Our stadium should be only about soccer and bringing fans together“