Mahamadou Diawara, a French academy athlete, was cut from the under-19 team after refusing to break his fast in Ramadan; understand
This Thursday, the 21st, sad news of discrimination in football ended up taking over social media. Base athlete for the national team France, Mahamadou Diawara was cut from the French under-19 squad after refusing to break his fast in Ramadan. The European country prohibits its Muslim players from fasting during preparation for games. But how does this reflect on future choices?
A French Federation recalled Diawara without even officially communicating the player’s departure from the list, much less without explaining the real reason behind the decision. The news only came to light after seeing the midfielder training normally at Lyon, instead of focusing on the under-19 squad.
In Ramadan, Muslims fast throughout the day, breaking only at night. Diawara would spend eight days preparing with the other French players trained by Thierry Henry. In France, the country adopted a secular justification of religious neutrality, but carries Islamophobic speeches. Demba Baa former French national team player with Senegalese origins, spoke about what happened. “That you deny them facilities in the lifestyle they have chosen, I can understand, but no… you want to forbid them from being Muslim”he stated.
Most of the new players at the French academy have Muslim origins, and many are children of immigrants from countries in the Africa as Senegal, Morocco, Algeria, Mali, between others. The European country is experiencing a war of Islamophobic speeches led by the far right.
Mahamadou Diawara was born in France, but the son of migrant parents from Mali. Officially, the athlete has already been sought out by the African country’s national team. Incompatibility is often what makes children of Africans choose a team in Africa to represent, instead of continuing in Europe. Another good example of this is Amine Gouiri, who, in 2023, was in the middle of an attempted strike by French under-20 players who wanted to fast in Ramadan during the preparation of matches. Even Kylian Mbappé got involved to calm the atmosphere between the athletes and the federation. Months later, Gouiri chose to defend Algeria.
Source: sportbuzz
I am William Jackson and I have a passion for sports journalism. With over 3 years of experience in the industry, I have worked in a variety of roles to improve the quality and accuracy of sports news coverage. As an author at Athletistic, I specialize in covering football news and providing comprehensive analysis for fans around the world.
