Dakar (AFP)
A member of the management of the AS Dakar Sacré-Coeur professional football club was relieved of his duties and arrested by the Senegalese police after the denunciation of alleged sexual abuse of minors at the training center, said the club and police on Tuesday.
Dakar Sacré-Coeur indicates on its site that it "had to put an end, with immediate effect, to its collaboration" with what it presents as a "club volunteer", arrived in 2019, for "inappropriate gestures" on several players from the training center. It does not specify the nature of the facts, but mentions at least six victims.
Alerted last week, the management of the first division club sent a report to the police, said the club.
The man was arrested on Saturday for alleged sexual abuse of minors, said a spokesman for the Senegalese police without giving further details. Police have not reported on the investigation since then. The prosecution did not respond to AFP and the club could not be reached immediately.
The Senegalese press presents the coach as a French national.
AS Dakar Sacré-Coeur, which has a complex in the eponymous district in the heart of the Senegalese capital, is the partner in Senegal of Olympique Lyonnais, displaying the logo of the French L1 club on its own.
It includes professional male and female teams and a training center welcoming more than 65 young people, says its site.
The management was alerted last week via the medical center from conversations between players of the training center, said the club, which indicates that it has filed a joint complaint with the victims. A psychological support cell has been set up, he said.
"All the players were individually received by the club psychologist," he said.
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