Paris St. Germain acknowledged that for the past five years "some of its scouts had used racial profiling in the recruitment of young players," hours after a report that it was part of an effort to "limit the number of black players signed by the club," according to Peltier & Panja of the N.Y. TIMES. The club claimed senior officials "had no knowledge of the racial profiling program." PSG blamed the form and the system on an ex-employee "responsible for leading a team that recruited players from outside of the Paris region." In a statement, PSG said, "The Club General Directorate had never been aware of an ethnic registration system within a recruitment department nor had it in its possession. In view of the information mentioned therein, these forms betray the spirit and values of Paris Saint-Germain." The recruiting affair "resonated in France because it comes seven years after a similarly ugly episode" in which senior French Football Federation execs discussed "setting up secret quotas limiting the number of players of North African and sub-Saharan origin at its youth training academies" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/8). LE PARISIEN reported former PSG Academy Dir Luis Fernandez said that he "never heard anyone speak" of practicing racial profiling at the club. He said, "I never saw or heard of that, never in my life. It disgusted me" (LE PARISIEN, 11/11).
