The criminal investigation closed without further action “for lack of a sufficiently serious offense”

This is at least one less case for PSG, caught in a whirlwind of trouble between Mbappé’s desire to leave and the revelations of Mediapart, Wednesday, on the “digital army” supposedly hired by the club to dismantle the rumors and social media business. The Paris prosecutor’s office closed in August “for lack of a sufficiently serious offense” its investigation opened at the end of 2018 for suspicions of ethnic registration at PSG between 2013 and 2018.

In November 2018, a European media collective indicated that the PSG recruitment unit had mentioned ethnic criteria between 2013 and 2018 in its evaluation sheets for young players, classified as “French”, “Maghrebi”, “Caribbean” , “African”. The preliminary investigation was opened in particular for discrimination based on origin, ethnicity or nationality.

After these revelations, in particular by Mediapart and Special Envoy in France, the club had been fined 100,000 euros by the Disciplinary Committee of the Professional Football League (LFP) in January 2019. Several club officials had also given suspended fines.

PSG points to “a personal initiative”

In criminal matters, the League for Human Rights (LDH) had filed a complaint against X for discrimination and the collection and processing of personal data revealing racial or ethnic origins. The PSG had defended itself by explaining that the filing had been the result of a “personal initiative of the manager” of the “recruitment unit of the training center, dedicated to territories outside Ile-de-France”, directed to the time by Marc Westerloppe, who left at the start of 2018 at Stade Rennais.

But the daily The Team had produced a document according to which ethnic criteria also appeared on the files of the Ile-de-France cell. And this time, it was not just about simple loose sheets that we would tick off with a pen on the edge of the pitch, but of software. Instead of “French”, “Maghreb”, “Caribbean” and “Black Africa”, initials: “BC”, “BK”, “BR”, “MS” and “AS”. You may have understood that we are talking about “White”, “Black”, “Beur”, “Mestizo” and “Asian”.

In the wake of the revelations, PSG had launched an internal investigation, the conclusions of which were presented to the Ministry of Sports. The club had concluded that there had been “no proven case of discrimination”, despite the existence of an ethnic record, and announced “measures aimed at strengthening ethical practices” within it.