French football club condemns fan who honoured terrorist on custom shirt

Toulouse FC has condemned a fan who used the club's kit to celebrate a Jew-killing Jihadist.

A photo of a fan wearing a shirt bearing the number seven and the name of Mohammed Merah went viral after the club's supporters drew attention to it online.

Mohammed Merah was a French-Algerian jihadist who in 2012 carried out a series of shootings in the cities of Montauban and Toulouse in southern France targeting children and teachers in a Jewish school, as well as French army soldiers.

Seven people in total were killed, including three children, and five more were wounded.

Merah, who filmed the attacks with a GoPro attached to his body, defended his attack on the Jewish school, saying “The Jews kill our brothers and sisters in Palestine.”

Although an investigation has been opened, it is not yet clear whether Toulouse Police have identified the man in the picture wearing the jersey.

The photo was spotted by TFC supporters who alerted the club’s media team.

The French Police have opened an investigation (glorification of terrorism) after a sickening photo from Toulouse, France, surfaced on social networks. Mohammed Merah was a French-Algerian Terrorist who killed 7 people in 2012 in the Toulouse/Montauban area. #terrorism #France pic.twitter.com/gfevKq55YJ

— 𝚃𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝙾𝚂𝙸𝙽𝚃 𝙰𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚢𝚜𝚝 𝕏 (@OSINT_Tactical) January 8, 2023

Toulouse FC released a statement condemning the “abject and shameful” jersey, and confirmed that the shirt was not processed or created via the club’s official stores.

Une photo d'un maillot du TéFéCé, au flocage abjecte et honteux, circule sur Twitter. Le TéFéCé s'insurge de ce contenu, l'a signalé dès qu'il en a pris connaissance, et affirme que ledit maillot n'a pas été traité par les équipes des boutiques officielles du Club.

— Toulouse FC (@ToulouseFC) January 7, 2023

On Twitter, the club said: “A photo of a TFC jersey, with abject and shameful [lettering], is circulating on Twitter. The TFC condemns this content and reported it as soon as we became aware of it, and affirms that the said jersey was not processed by the teams of the official club stores.”

Some social media users pointed out that this is not the first time the terrorist has been honoured in this way, linking to a similar jersey from 2012.