Author: Amrit Santlani
Veteran Paris Saint-Germain coach Christopher Galtier has been arrested for alleged racist comments he made while in charge of Nice, and is due to stand trial at the end of December.
In early April 2023, Galtier was accused of making racist comments against his own players while coaching Nice, another Ligue 1 club. The 56-year-old coach vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
On Friday, Galtier and his son were arrested and questioned about the incident, the investigation into which began in April. In December, the PSG coach, who was about to be sacked, will be tried in a criminal court in Nice.
According to the Nice public prosecutor, Xavier Bonhomme, Galtier was accused of“moral harassment and discrimination on the basis of actual or supposed affiliation or non-affiliation to a particular ethnic group, nation, supposed race or religion“.
According to a BBC report, in a leaked email sent to Nice’s owners in April, the veteran said that there were too many black and Muslim players in the team.
When the accusations were first made against the current PSG coach, he was “deeply shocked” and even filed a defamation suit against two journalists and Nice’s former sporting director Julien Fournier.
Galtier led PSG to the Ligue 1 title last season, but his team was eliminated in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Bayern Munich, which was a huge blow and his job has since been questioned. As well as winning Ligue 1, PSG also won the Trophee des Champions, but were knocked out of the Coupe de France in the last 16.
Several media outlets have reported that former Barcelona and Spain coach Luis Enrique has agreed to take over as PSG coach, and a compensation package is being agreed between Galtier and the club to pave the way for the next man in charge.
The former Nice coach took over in Paris after Mauricio Pochettino was sacked by the club last summer.