France, the Angers coach resigns after the scandal of the sexist sentence

Abdel Bouhazama has been engulfed in criticism after defending a player accused of sexual harassment

Abdel Bouhazama is no longer the Angers coach: the French coach, of Moroccan origin, has resigned after being overwhelmed by criticism for his unfortunate outing in defense of one of his players, Ilyes Chetti, accused of sexual harassment . In front of the rest of the team, the now former coach had in fact said: “He did nothing wrong, we all touched women“.

Angers, bottom of the table in Ligue 1, issued this official statement: “The management of Angers SCO takes note of Abdel Bouhazama’s decision to step down from his former duties. His will was announced this Tuesday, March 7 to the players and staff during a meeting. For the sake of transparency, Angers SCO specifies that this eventuality had been imagined by Abdel Bouhazama for several days and that the decision on his withdrawal from the first team was thought up by the interested party at the end of February after various sporting mishaps. Controversy also erupted on Monday after out-of-context statements made during the pre-match conference were leaked to local and national press.

Faced with media pressure and to preserve the club’s image and the serenity of the dressing room, Abdel Bouhazama announced to president Saïd Chabane that he had decided to leave his post as coach of the professional team. The President accepts the coach’s decision. To remove any ambiguity and misunderstanding, Angers SCO unreservedly condemns the words spoken during the speech, even if they appear to be awkward rather than trivializing sexist words. Furthermore, the club does not accept any form of discrimination and condemns sexism and misogyny. Abdel Bouhazama apologized to his colleagues, especially women, and therefore preferred to draw the consequences both of his background and of his clumsiness. Furthermore, we should remember that Abdel Bouhazama has always responded when the club needed him. We are grateful to him for his efforts, even if they have not paid off, and we will see with him how he sees his future now. We will keep the media and our supporters informed of other decisions that will be made“.