Ex-Man Utd star gets FOUR-GAME ban following LGBT awareness day

Robin Bairner

Updated: 5 Jun 2025 10:28 BST
3 min read

Nemanja Matic, Lyon, LGBT, 2024/25 — © IMAGO

Three Ligue 1 stars have received punishments for their actions on the league’s day to heighten awareness over LGBT+ plus rights, including former Manchester United and Chelsea star Nemanja Matic.

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Matic, along with Egypt international star Ahmed Hassan, has been handed a four-match suspension, two games of which are suspended, after he covered up the image of a rainbow flag on his match jersey. Both players used tape to mask the message, which was promoted on the final day of the Ligue 1 season, 17 May.

In addition to this, the veteran Serbia international midfielder has been instructed to take part in awareness-raising activities over the course of the next six months.

Current ETV

Nemanja Matic

DM, M (C)

Lyon

Nemanja Matic

DM, M (C)

Lyon

ETV Range

€1.6M - €2.4M

Matic agrees to punishment

A statement from the French FA’s Sebastien Deneux, who leads the Disciplinary Committed said in a statement published by L'Equipe: “They accepted this idea of an awareness-raising campaign on the theme of the fight against homophobia. However, the committee wants to firmly back the campaign led by the LFP. At our level, we still punish players who don't play the game.”

Matic, who has a year left to run on his Lyon contract, played 39 matches for Lyon last season, scoring one goal and creating one more. Both he and Hassan are said to have "immediately agreed" to the punishment.

Lens defender Jonathan Gradit has been punished with a one-game ban for a homophobic insult in the tunnel in the clash against Monaco.

On top of this, Hassan’s fellow Egypt international star Mostafa Mohamed also made it clear that he would not represent Nantes during that weekend, despite the clash against Montpellier being essential to the club’s survival.

Nantes ultimately won the fixture against the bottom-placed side 4-0 to ensure they will play Ligue 1 football next season, yet the incident cast a cloud over the 27-year-old, who has repeatedly missed games when LGBT rights have been promoted.

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