French prosecutors open official probe into PSG 'racial profiling' claims
Prosecutors in France opened a probe on Monday
into claims that talent scouts at French Champions Paris Saint-Germain subjected recruits to racial
profiling, breaking anti-discrimination laws.
The news comes after Paris Saint-Germain announced on Thursday that they had found "no proven case of discrimination" after an internal inquiry into accusations that players were subject to racial profiling by club recruiters.
The in-house investigation was launched in response to revelations last week by French investigative website Mediapart that club talent scouts operated a system of racial profiling for years.
The French champions released the findings of their probe after talks with French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu.
Mediapart, citing the latest series of Football Leaks documents, said that between 2013 and this year, PSG's scouting department filled in recruitment forms on potential youth signings that included a section on ethnicity.
The section offered four options: French, West Indian, North African, African.
Documenting information on racial or ethnic origins is illegal in France.
Thursday's statement from PSG said the investigation "confirmed the introduction of forms with a section on ethnicity between 2013-2017.
"These forms were the personal initiative of the head of the Province (scouting) department."
The statement concluded: "Despite their existence, there was no process of discrimination at the level of scouting, evaluating or recruiting of young players."
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The news comes after Paris Saint-Germain announced on Thursday that they had found "no proven case of discrimination" after an internal inquiry into accusations that players were subject to racial profiling by club recruiters.
The in-house investigation was launched in response to revelations last week by French investigative website Mediapart that club talent scouts operated a system of racial profiling for years.
The French champions released the findings of their probe after talks with French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu.
Mediapart, citing the latest series of Football Leaks documents, said that between 2013 and this year, PSG's scouting department filled in recruitment forms on potential youth signings that included a section on ethnicity.
The section offered four options: French, West Indian, North African, African.
Documenting information on racial or ethnic origins is illegal in France.
Thursday's statement from PSG said the investigation "confirmed the introduction of forms with a section on ethnicity between 2013-2017.
"These forms were the personal initiative of the head of the Province (scouting) department."
The statement concluded: "Despite their existence, there was no process of discrimination at the level of scouting, evaluating or recruiting of young players."
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