Entire Women’s World Cup squad ‘endangered’ during tense press conference

The entire Morocco Women’s World Cup squad was said to have been “endangered” after captain Ghizlane Chebbak was asked whether any of the team’s players were gay during a press conference. Same-sex relationships are illegal in Morocco and homosexuality is punishable by up to three years in prison.

Morocco are the first Arab country to ever compete at the Women’s World Cup, with the team going head-to-head with Germany in their opening game of the tournament on Monday.

Ahead of the clash, Chebbak spoke to the media to preview the game. But those in attendance were said to be stunned after a reporter – understood to be from BBC World News Service – posed the question to the forward.

Chebbak brushed off the query as a FIFA official shut down the reporter. But, according to The Athletic reporter Steph Yang, Moroccan press in attendance were audibly stunned by the question. And Yang took to Twitter to raise her concerns.

“One reporter here asked directly if there are gay players on the Moroccan squad, given same-sex relationships are illegal in Morocco,” she wrote. “From a harm reduction perspective, this is not an appropriate question for a player and would have endangered the players themselves.

“We are obviously going to talk about the intersection of politics and sports at this World Cup, and it’s vital to do so. But we should take care that our questions don’t cause further harm to those impacted by those very politics.”

CBC journalist Shireen Ahmed was also concerned that the question had been posed to Chebbak and said: “The reporter was completely out of line. Harm reduction matters and posing the question to the captain or coach was unnecessary. The question was waved off by a FIFA media officer moderating but it shouldn’t have been asked.”

Morocco have been drawn in Group H of the World Cup and will face South Korea and Colombia following their encounter with Germany. And during her press conference, Chebbak explained: “We are honoured to be the first Arab country to take part in the Women’s World Cup.

“We feel that we have to shoulder a big responsibility to show a good image, and to show the achievements that the Moroccan football team has made in terms of progress by qualifying to the World Cup. This is a great milestone for us and we hope that our match with Germany tomorrow will pave the way for other matches.”