Patrice Evra: Former France star opens up about sexual abuse by a trusted friend Published duration 1 October 2018
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Former France international footballer Patrick Evra has revealed the painful experiences he underwent after he was allegedly sexually abused by a friend who was also a footballer.
The former Marseille, Monaco and Nice keeper said he had an “enormous problem” in Paris while growing up in the south-east with the support of a family and a close friend.
He said he “always wanted to be a footballer” because he had always wanted to play a “nice game”.
However, he said “abuse in football comes from many different places” and accused the police of not doing enough to look into it.
“There is an enormous problem in football,” he told French radio station RMC.
“It’s not only about a personal problem, this is about something bigger than that.
“I would like to be able to say I’m surprised and I’m not, because it’s my fault.
“I want to say I didn’t commit a crime. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Evra, who played with France at the 1982 World Cup, said he first began to notice problems at school when a friend told him he was gay.
“The fact that he was gay was not a problem, but the fact that he was gay made me worry that I was gay and made me more insecure, and I didn’t feel comfortable,” he said.
“He also told me that he was a footballer and that, ‘come on, football is great, take it.’”
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Evra said he had a very close bond with his family, and it wasn’t until he reached adulthood that he realised they were trying to make the best out of a very dysfunctional family.
He said he became angry with them and went to a psychologist.
“He told me not to go to therapy, to go to school. He told me that I had to work hard, to study, not to worry. But I didn’t study, I