Even a relatively small rainbow was too much to bear for Nemanja Matic this season.
On Ligue 1’s annual matchday on Saturday dedicated to the fight against homophobia in football, a major ongoing problem in France, the Lyon midfielder used white tape to obscure the league logo in Pride flag colors on the sleeve of his jersey.
The former Serbia international, who featured at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and previously played for Chelsea, Manchester United and Roma, came off the bench for Lyon as they beat Angers 2-0 Saturday to ensure qualification for European competition next season.
He shared a post-match photo of himself with goal-scoring teammate Alexandre Lacazette, which showed the tape still on his shirt sleeve.
What a player,what a person 💪🏼 We will miss you @LacazetteAlex pic.twitter.com/YqMVW1RrHM
— Nemanja Matic (@NemanjaMatic) May 17, 2025
Meanwhile, striker Ahmed “Koka” Hassan did the same on his jersey in Le Havre’s 3-2 win at Strasbourg.
Their decisions to publicly demonstrate anti-LGBTQ views are just the latest by players in the French pro men’s game.
On the equivalent weekend last season, then Monaco midfielder Mohamed Camara stuck black tape over the rainbow Ligue 1 logo, and put white tape over an anti-homophobia message that was on the front of his shirt.
Officials fined Camara, a Mali international, and suspended him for four league games. Within weeks, Monaco sold him to a club in Qatar.
It isn’t the first time that Matic has taken exception to a symbol on his jersey.
When at Manchester United, he chose not to wear a poppy, which is added annually to players’ shirts for matches held on or near Remembrance Day in November.
Matic had worn the poppy before but stopped doing so in 2018, saying the symbol was a reminder of what happened to his village of Vrelo during the conflict in Kosovo.
The 36-year-old is yet to comment on his taping-over of the Ligue 1 rainbow logo. Unlike Camara last year, he kept the anti-homophobia slogan visible.
Writing on X, campaigner Jean-Baptiste Montarnier asked French league chiefs for their response “to this trivialization of homophobia” by Matic, adding: “Can you imagine for a single second a player refusing to play or covering up the logo on Anti-Racism Day?”
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The mention of a refusal refers to Mostafa Mohamed, Hassan’s fellow Egypt international, who confirmed before the weekend that he would again be absent for Nantes’ fixture on the anti-homophobia matchday.
It’s the third consecutive year that Mohamed has chosen to sit out the round. This time, he issued a statement about his withdrawal, saying “certain deeply rooted values, tied to my background and faith, make my participation in this initiative difficult.”
Nantes confirmed they would fine the player, who was also publicly criticized by both France’s Sports Minister Marie Barsacq and the president of the France Football Federation (FFF), Philippe Diallo, as reported by Ouest-France.
On Sunday, the FFF held its first Pride tournament at its famous Clairefontaine HQ, to mark IDAHOBIT. The group Rouge Direct, which has long campaigned against discriminatory chanting and anti-LGBTQ incidents in French football, were among those in attendance.
Anti-gay slurs shouted or sung by supporters are often audible in men’s matches in France, with the authorities repeatedly failing to get a handle on the problem.
In a YouGov poll a year ago which surveyed fans from all five major European soccer leagues, it was those in France who were the most likely to say that homophobia is widespread in the sport in their country.
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