The Ethics Committee of the French Football Federation urged fans to remain neutral, in light of the student protests taking place in the country and attracting international attention.
The protests, which were mostly peaceful, were met with a violent response from the police, sparking widespread criticism, while football fans inside the stadiums expressed their support for the students.
Riot police heavily used tear gas and batons to disperse the crowds. By last week, the number of detainees across the country had reached more than 6,600 people, an unusually high number in the context of the protest movements in France.
According to the National Council for Ethics and Professional Conduct, during their team’s match against Lyon in the French League last week, Lens fans raised a banner demanding an end to what they described as “disproportionate and systematic police violence.”
The Council also noted that in the thirtieth minute of the match between Paris Saint-Germain and Le Mans, the fans raised a banner that read: “Your militias are repressing, and our youth are resisting.”
In a statement issued by the Ethics Committee, it confirmed that it understands the motives of young fans, who are often students, to use matches as a platform to publicly express their support for the demonstrators.
The committee added: “Sport should bring people together, not divide them. Therefore, the National Council of Football Ethics calls on all fans, who are an integral part of the football family, to adhere to the principle of neutrality in all circumstances.”
Brazilian star Vinicius Junior, the Spanish Real Madrid striker, expressed his dissatisfaction with the way the referees treated him, demanding greater protection for talented players like him, along with Lamine Yamal and Julian Alvarez.
Vinicius's statements came after Real Madrid's 4-3 victory over Roma in the Champions League on Wednesday, in a match in which the team succeeded in overturning a deficit to win. The Brazilian striker also admitted that his level has declined in the current period, but he stressed that he has no doubts about his ability to regain his best condition soon.
Real Madrid's confrontation with Roma coincided with the issuance of a decision to suspend him for 4 matches in the Spanish League, after he was expelled after he pulled the hair of one of the opposing team's players and objected to the referee's decision.
Vinicius said: “I do not remember that another player was suspended for 4 matches. I tried to push away the player who was in front of me, but my hands got tangled in his hair.”
He added: “The result was a red card, which surprised me very much. I did not say any offensive word to the referee that would require me to be suspended for 4 matches, but when it comes to Vinicius (Vinicius), making such decisions seems very easy.”
The Brazilian star continued: “The opposing team will always say that the punishment is justified, and so will the press, and I understand that. I am here to continue to develop and improve, because I know where I come from, and what I am capable of achieving.”
He explained: "It is understandable that the fans of the opposing teams boo me. My job is to score goals against their clubs, but I do not understand the actions of the referees."
He concluded his speech by saying: “I read the statistics. I was exposed to 500 fouls, which resulted in only 5 red cards. In the end, it seems that yellow cards always go to (Fini) and to the attacking players. We need to protect players who provide a different touch in the game, like Lamine in Barcelona or Julian in Atletico Madrid. Defenders are allowed to foul me throughout the match, but in the end, I find myself the one receiving the card.”
For his part, Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho, Real Madrid's coach, expressed his dissatisfaction with the timing of the announcement of the suspension penalty.
Mourinho said: “Do you think it is normal for a player on a Spanish team, preparing for an important and decisive match for Spanish football, to discover the news that he has been suspended for 4 matches just two hours before the starting whistle?”
Spaniard Alvaro Arbiola, Fulham's coach, is facing a turbulent start in his experience with the English team, after reservations escalated within the dressing room about his training methods and choices in the transfer market, only six matches after assuming the job, according to the British newspaper The Telegraph.
Fulham is in last place in the English Premier League with two points, after failing to achieve any victory in its first six matches, so the pressure on Arbiola increases before facing Hull City, ranked eighth, at Craven Cottage Stadium on Saturday.
According to the report, a number of Fulham players expressed reservations about the approach followed by the Spanish coach since the pre-season period, amid fears that his offensive method would leave the team exposed defensively. Some team members also expressed their belief that the quality of training had declined compared to the period that Portuguese Marco Silva spent at the helm of the technical staff.
The challenges facing Arbiola were not limited to the technical side, as Fulham’s contracts with three young players from Real Madrid, namely Gonzalo Garcia, Cesar Palacios and Manuel Angel, aroused the dissatisfaction of some parties within the club, especially since the three players had previously worked under the leadership of the Spanish coach, but they lack sufficient experience in the English Premier League.
Fulham signed the trio in a summer that witnessed major changes in its squad, after losing the services of Silva, who moved to Benfica, along with strikers Raul Jimenez and Harry Wilson, who left on two free deals. The two players scored 10 and 11 goals respectively in the league last season, and their combined goals contributed to about 40 percent of the team’s goals in the competition.
The absence of Silva, who spent five years with Fulham, is a significant blow to the club, after officials expected to renew his contract before the Portuguese coach changed his position and accepted Benfica's offer. The club was forced to move quickly to find a replacement, settling on Arbiola, who took over as coach of Real Madrid temporarily during the second half of last season, after the dismissal of Xabi Alonso.
Although Arbiola has a distinguished record as a player, having won the 2010 World Cup with Spain and the Champions League twice with Real Madrid, his coaching experience at the first team level remains limited, which raises questions about his ability to lead Fulham out of its current crisis.
Fulham's numbers reveal a clear contradiction between the style of play and the results. The team ranks third among the league teams in terms of the number of passes, and eighth in expected goals, but it suffers from weakness in maintaining its lead during the final minutes of matches.
The team conceded late goals against Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town, and also conceded a victory against Manchester United after conceding a late equaliser. The last loss to Ipswich was the most painful, after Fulham advanced by a goal before conceding twice in the 88th and 92nd minutes.
Arbiola's decisions during the match sparked criticism, after he preferred not to use Danish defender Joachim Andersen, who has great experience, and chose to play young midfielder Manuel Angel, who was making his first appearance in the English Premier League. The two goals came after crosses into the penalty area, highlighting the team's defensive fragility.
The coach's statements after the loss also did not help calm the atmosphere, when he said that he played for the best team in the world and coached the best team in the world, in reference to Real Madrid. But these words were not widely accepted by Fulham fans, who began to wonder about the coach’s ability to change the team’s course.
The management is also facing financial challenges, after the club recorded losses amounting to about 45 million pounds in its latest published annual results, for the period ending in June 2025, in addition to the large cost of the new stand at Craven Cottage Stadium, which is believed to have reached 350 million pounds sterling.
Although switching to a new playing style requires time, Fulham does not have the luxury of waiting long, especially with its need to enhance its defensive solidity and restore its offensive effectiveness. Also, some high-cost offensive deals did not provide the expected return; Kevin scored only one goal in 30 league matches, while Oscar Pope did not score any goal during 20 matches with the team in the competition.
The next two matches against Hull City and Coventry City, two rising teams, give Arbiola an important opportunity to correct the course, but at the same time they represent a decisive test of his ability to gain the trust of his players and the club’s fans.
Between the reservations in the locker room, the decline in results, and the criticism directed at his technical choices, the Spanish coach finds himself facing an urgent task of proving that his project is capable of achieving a balance between possession and attack on the one hand, and defensive discipline and scoring points on the other hand.
