A player for the Paris Saint-Germain women’s soccer team was arrested Wednesday in France in connection with an attack on one of her teammates, the club said.
The player, midfielder Aminata Diallo, 26, was taken into police custody as part of an investigation “following an assault last Thursday evening against the club’s players,” the club said in a statement. It did not name the injured player.
“Paris Saint-Germain condemns in the strongest possible terms the violence committed. Since the evening of Thursday, Nov. 4, the club has taken all the necessary measures to guarantee the health, well-being and safety of its players,” the club said.
Diallo replaced her injured teammate, Kheira Hamraoui, for a European Champions League game Tuesday against Real Madrid.
The French sports newspaper L’Equipe was the first to report that the arrest was in connection with a violent attack on Hamraoui, a PSG midfielder, last Thursday.
After a team dinner organized by PSG, Hamraoui was in a car driven by Diallo when two masked men are alleged to have appeared around 10:30 p.m., pulled her from the passenger seat and hit her in the legs with an iron bar, the newspaper reported. The assault lasted a few minutes, and the attackers fled, L’Equipe reported, citing sources familiar with the incident.
Hamraoui, 31, suffered injures to both of her legs and hands, the newspaper reported.
“PSG is working closely with the Versailles SRPJ (Service Régional de Police Judiciaire) to shed light on the facts,” the club said, adding that it will consider what action to take.
The incident appears to echo the 1994 Tonya Harding scandal.
In January 1994, Harding’s ex-husband Jeff Gillooly orchestrated an attack on her skating rival Nancy Kerrigan, who was hit in the legs with a baton and forced to withdraw from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Harding ended up winning the competition.
She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution in March 1994, and Gillooly was sentenced to prison. Harding was banned for life from the U.S. Figure Skating Association in June 1994.