Toulouse Football Club announced on Monday the suspension of Moroccan footballer Zakaria Aboukhlal following allegations indicating that the player engaged in a verbal fight with Laurence Arribage, deputy mayor in charge of sports.
“Faced with the serious allegations published by RMC Sport against the player of Toulouse Football Club, Zakaria Aboukhlal, the Club announces that its player will train away from the professional group until further notice, pending the results of an internal investigation,” Toulouse FC said in a tweet.
“The Club will not make any further comment until the conclusion of [the investigation],” the tweet reads.
𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲́
Face aux graves allégations publiées par RMC Sport à l’encontre du joueur du Toulouse Football Club, Zakaria Aboukhlal, le Club annonce que son joueur s’entraînera à l’écart du groupe professionnel jusqu’à nouvel ordre, en attendant les résultats d’une… pic.twitter.com/DGcS2CBfIh— Toulouse FC (@ToulouseFC) May 15, 2023
The allegations were first reported by French sports outlet RMC Sport on Monday.
The outlet claims that during a ceremony celebrating Toulouse Football Club’s victory in the French Cup on April 30, Aboukhlal and Arribage engaged in a verbal fight following the player’s refusal to maintain silence during a speech.
RMC Sport reported that the incident occurred while the mayor of Toulouse Jean-Luc Moudenc, and Toulouse coach Philippe Montanier was delivering a speech.
According to the report, Aboukhlal told the French sport’s official that “at home, women do not speak like that to men,” in response to her telling him and another group of players to remain silent.
When contacted by the media, Arribage said that the player simply disliked being asked to remain quiet in such a manner, and did not confirm the statement that multiple eyewitnesses attested to.
