Le Mans FC faces boycott call after Idrissa Gana Gueye investment

Idrissa Gana Gueye’s arrival as an investor at Le Mans FC has prompted calls for the club to be boycotted by associations campaigning against homophobia and discrimination in France.

The groups have objected to the Senegal midfielder’s past actions, particularly an incident from 2022 when he was playing for PSG. Gueye declined to wear a rainbow-emblazoned shirt during a Ligue 1 match staged in support of LGBTQ groups and did not travel to Montpellier for the 37th matchday of the season.

In a statement published on Thursday, the Collectif national contre l’homophobie, le racisme, l’antisemitisme et toutes les discriminations described Gueye’s involvement with Le Mans FC as a “major ethical departure”.

The organisation, which brings together several associations, referred to “past controversies linked to the player” and stressed that “homophobia is not an opinion”.

“It is an offence,” the statement said. “By accepting into its ownership structure a figure who has publicly rejected campaigns against discrimination, Le Mans FC is choosing financial cynicism at the expense of ethics and republican values.”

Gueye is currently with Senegal’s Lions of Teranga squad for the first two matches of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.