PARIS.- A judicial procedure was opened on Tuesday for moral harassment after a complaint filed by Kylian Mbappé Against the Paris Saint-Germain, his former club.
In the spotlight: the practice of ‘loft’, already denounced by other players. The Paris Prosecutor’s Office indicated on Thursday to AFP that he opened a judicial procedure against X for moral harassment.
Two instructional judges were appointed, said a source close to the case, to investigate the player’s accusations, who now plays in the real Madrid.
Mbappé, captain of the French team, filed a complaint in Paris on May 16 for moral harassment and attempted firm extortion, specifically denouncing its inclusion in the summer -Boreal- of 2023 in the ‘loft’ of the PSG.
This practice, recurring in football clubs, consists in separating the players from the workforce and is already the subject of several investigations in Paris.
‘Maximize’ transfers
The procedure was assigned to the repression brigade of crime against people (BRDP), after the complaint filed in May by the soccer player Kheira Hamraoui against the PSG.
In this case, the footballer, who suffered a serious aggression on the street and now plays in the Al-Shabab of Saudi Arabia, states that the club marginalized her after her recovery to encourage her to leave, according to a source close to the case.
The PSG is not the only club indicated by these accusations. In January 2024, the UNFP Professional Footballers Union filed a complaint against X, based on a list of about fifty players who had suffered ‘Loft’ (but were not directly associated with the preparation of the complaint).
The union accused of moral harassment and extortion to the various clubs that deliberately separated certain players with the objective, according to the union, of “maximizing the price of the transfer.”
An investigation was then open, directed by the Prosecutor’s Office. At the beginning of June, UNFP lawyers, Léon del Forno and Julia Minkowski, filed a new complaint to ensure that an instructional judge took care of the investigations.
Sections on the grass
What do players reproach their clubs? Specifically, during the summer period of transfers, regulated by the collective agreement of professional players, clubs can place the players of those who want to get rid of a ‘loft’, a kind of isolation: without training with the professional group or play matches.
According to article 507 of the French football letter, which functions as a collective agreement, clubs have certain obligations with these players: allow them to access changing rooms, training facilities, medical care “eventually different, but equivalent quality.”
They must also provide them with the “planned equipment for all professional players” and propose training schedules “compatible with the other conditions of preparation and training of the main group of professionals, as well as being respectful of the health of the players.”
This ‘loft’ must end on September 1, closing date of the transfers market.
However, the practice faces numerous abuses, according to their detractors. This isolation, considered abusive, pushes players to prolong their contract at the club or, on the contrary, accept a transfer – with an economic benefit for their origin club – or even terminate their contract.
Retrieved on Thursday, Mbappé’s criminal lawyer, Pierre-Sur, did not want to comment on the opening of the judicial procedure. The player’s environment neither comments, nor the PSG.
In addition to the criminal case, Mbappé is also in financial dispute with the PSG. His lawyers held a press conference in early April, the first since the beginning of the conflict, to “move on to the attack” after a long pulse to sports entities, such as the French Football Federation and the Professional Soccer League.
In summary, Mbappé, who went free to Real Madrid a year ago, claims 55 million euros in unpaid bonds and salaries. A “fantasy story”, according to the PSG.
