French federation investigating Nice’s Youcef Atal after ‘hate speech’ post

The French Football Federation (FFF) said on Sunday its ethics committee would investigate Nice player Youcef Atal for social media posts containing “calls for violence”, linked to the Hamas-Israel conflict.

The Algerian international defender posted a video on his Instagram account of a speaker making, according to people who saw it, anti-Semitic remarks calling for violence.

The post sparked outrage from French politicians.

It has since been deleted and AFP has been unable to independently verify its content.

On Sunday FFF president Philippe Diallo released statement denouncing “calls for violence relayed by the 27-year-old player”.

“They are contrary to the ethics of our sport and the values that soccer relentlessly defends”, he said.

“The FFF condemns them in the strongest possible terms. Hate speech cannot be tolerated,” he declared, announcing that the FFF’s national ethics council had been informed.

Atal apologised on Inst

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