Toulouse reinstate player suspended over suspected misogynistic comment

Toulouse have reinstated striker Zakaria Aboukhlal in the team’s work.

It is recalled that the Moroccan international had been preventively suspended after RMC Sport reported that the 23-year-old player had made a misogynistic comment directed at Laurence Arribagé, councilor for Sport at Toulouse City Council. According to the publication, the episode would have occurred on the 30th of April, when Toulouse went to the Town Hall to celebrate their victory in the Coupe de France. Arribagé asked for silence when coach Philippe Montanier spoke. The aforementioned media outlet advanced that Aboukhlal responded: “Where I come from, women don’t talk to men that way.”

“Following our internal investigation and the many conversations resulting from it, a meeting took place between Ms. Laurence Arribagé and our player Zakaria Aboukhlal in the presence of the club’s management. After this meeting, we concluded that the facts reported by RMC Sport did not really reflect what happened on April 30th. As a consequence, we confirm that the investigation carried out by Toulouse Football Club is closed and that the player returns to the squad from today “, clarifies the club.