Ligue 1’s decade of confusion ends with rainbow round scrapped | OneFootball

Facing recurrent rows over anti-homophobia and discrimination drives, Ligue 1 has now scrapped its rainbow-themed matchday. Instead, this weekend players in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 will wear on their shirts the first name of a discrimination victim in place of their own.

According to L'Équipe, it began with rainbow laces after a 2013 proposal from Bertrand Lambert of Panamboyz & Girlz United. In October 2014, players were asked to wear them on matchday 10, with president Frédéric Thiriez praising diversity but not mentioning homophobia. Serge Aurier’s post-match exchange captured the confusion.

The idea returned in January 2016, again framed around diversity, then was dropped. In 2019, captains and officials were told to use rainbow armbands on 17 May, but many wore standard ones or removed them amid design problems.

In 2021, rainbow squad numbers appeared. Controversy flared when Paris Saint-Germain’s Idrissa Gueye missed the game citing illness, then did so again the next season with Abdou Diallo, while some players said they had misunderstood the day’s purpose.

In 2023 four players refused to play. Clubs fined them, but the League could not suspend players not on the teamsheet. The LFP then moved the colours to a multicoloured Ligue 1 patch, prompting SOS Homophobie and Panamboyz & Girlz United to cut ties.

Protests persisted, with Mostafa Mohamed sitting out in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and others taping over the badge. It marks the end of a stop-start decade.

Source: L'Équipe