Has Ryan Cherki decided not to sing the French national anthem? Before Thierry Henry’s Blues enter the men’s football tournament of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Wednesday evening in Marseille, TV images briefly show the OL dribbler not singing The Marseillaise. Alexandre Lacazette and his teammates joined in with the Vélodrome crowd before kick-off. And the substitutes, in front of the bench, all seemed to sing along to the text written by Rouget de Lisle. Except Cherki.
Reactions poured in on social media and this pseudo-controversy delighted the far right, particularly Gilbert Collard, a former National Front MP and then RN MEP (who joined Eric Zemmour in 2022). “Ryan Cherki refused yesterday to sing La Marseillaise; under these conditions he should not represent France at the Olympic Games and above all, he should go and sing elsewhere: he’s fed up with being insulted!”launched the lawyer trained on X. An allusion to the Algerian origins (through his mother) of Cherki and his possibility of playing for Algeria?
The Blues Thierry Henry continues
After its 3-0 victory against the American team, the French Olympique team continues on Saturday (kick-off 9 p.m.) in Nice with a second match of the group stage against Guinea. It remains to be seen whether Cherki has decided not to sing the patriotic anthem like his teammates. The players are obviously under no obligation to sing all together The MarseillaiseThe Lyon native is not subject to any possible disciplinary measures.
Not initially called up by Henry, Cherki is a backup in the attacking sector. Michael Olise and Jean-Philippe Mateta accompanied captain “Laca” for the first match and Maghnes Akliouche, Désiré Doué and Arnaud Kalimuendo came on in the second half. Cherki warmed up after the hour mark but was not brought into the game by his coach. He may get some playing time in the third match against New Zealand, next Tuesday.
