Ex-PSG footballer Hamraoui claims 3.5m euros damages against club

Former Paris Saint-Germain women’s footballer Kheira Hamraoui filed a 3.5 million-euro ($4m) claim against the club on Monday, alleging that she was forced out after she was brutally attacked with an iron bar.

In November 2021, Hamraoui was attacked by two masked men after returning from a team dinner in a car with teammate Aminata Diallo.

But after Diallo was detained and charged with instigating the attack on her teammate, Hamraoui was allegedly the victim of “moral harassment” by some of PSG’s players.

Two of those — Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani — refused to pass the ball to Hamraoui during games, the plaintiff’s lawyer Pascal-Pierre Garbarini argued at the French capital’s employment tribunal.

Hamraoui was “ostracised” on the pitch, in the changing room and in the stands, where some supposed PSG supporters held up insulting signs about her, while she also suffered harassment on social media channels, Garbarini said.

“What did PSG do? Nothing!” he said, listing the damages sought by Hamraoui as: “one million euros in damages and interest for moral harassment, 173,400 euros for failing to meet security obligations, 300,000 euros damages and interest for failing to prevent moral harassment, one million euros in damages and interest for moral prejudice and one million euros in damages and interest for loss of opportunity”.

The total of almost 3.5 million euros amounted to “247 months of salary”, protested PSG’s lawyer Benjamin Louzier, adding that Hamraoui’s monthly pay over her two-year contract in the French capital was 14,450 euros net.

Louzier pointed out that Hamraoui did not have a medical certificate attesting to suffering from harassment, had not contacted PSG about it, nor the club’s employees’ council.

The hearing took place in a packed room ahead of another employment dispute involving PSG and former star forward — and France captain — Kylian Mbappe.

He is claiming 240 million euros in damages from PSG, who in turn want 180 million euros from Mbappe.

The employment tribunal is due to reach its verdict on the Hamraoui case in mid December.