Paul Pogba to Quit France's National Team over Islamophobia
The midfielder, who has converted to Islam, resigned after comments made by the French president on Friday, as well as the French government's decision to honor the teacher who had shown his students offensive cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The football star's alleged decision comes in the wake of the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty, 47, who was attacked on his way home from the junior high school where he taught in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, 40 kilometers northwest of Paris, the Daily Mail reported.
He was awarded the French Legion d'honneur, the highest decoration bestowed by the French state.
Macron described the murder as an 'Islamic terrorist attack' that took the life of the French teacher and later added: 'Unity and firmness are the only answers to the monstrosity of Islamist terrorism.'
Pogba's resignation was published on Sunday in the Arabic sports website, which said that the decision to give the teacher the Legion d'honneur and the comments were the motivation for his decision to stop playing as a French international.
It said Pogba considered the decision as an insult to him and to French Muslims, especially since Islam is the second religion in France after Christianity.
Calls are growing meanwhile around the world for people to boycott French goods in the wake of the president's comments accusing Muslims of separatism and he pledged not to give up cartoons depicting the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
