US Orléans terminates the contract of its coach Bernard Casoni, accused of racist remarks

2023-11-06 13:28:09

Bernard Casoni was fired from his position as coach of the Orléans Sports Union (USO), the National football club, the French third division, announced on Monday, November 6. There “early breakup [de son] CONTRACT “ was announced in a very good press release published on the club’s website.

Targeted by a preliminary investigation for provoking hatred or racial discrimination and for public insults of a racist nature opened by the Orléans public prosecutor’s office, the technician was suspended by his club on October 10. The former international presented his apologies two days later on France Bleu Orléans, arguing that he was “anything but racist”, but he admitted to having held “inappropriate remarks”.

“Humanly, it’s regrettable”

On September 21, on the eve of a match between the USO and Châteauroux, he said, in response to a question about his team’s difficulties: « [Les joueurs] have things they excel at. But there are things where it’s not enough. This is where you have to be more efficient, where you have to erase that. My role is to tell them, show them and help them solve problems. That’s it that’s all. I did it in all the clubs I went to, I did it with North Africans! They’re no more stupid than North Africans, eh… I mean, that’s the role of a coach. »

Former defender of Olympique de Marseille (OM), Bernard Casoni, 62, worked as a coach for several seasons in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and France, in Bastia, Auxerre and Lorient in particular.

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“Humanly, for me, it’s something difficult, because I think (…) that he experiences it very, very badly, because, fundamentally, he is someone (…) which is not at all what we felt through the awkwardness of his words. Humanly, it’s regrettable”, argued the club’s president, Philippe Boutron, during the announcement of Bernard Casoni’s successor. This is the former technician from Bourg-en-Bresse and Saint-Brieuc, Karim Mokeddem (49 years old).

The World with AFP