Outrage as top girl footballer asked to twerk
FOOTBALL was plunged into a sexism row yesterday after the first women’s player of the year was asked if she could “twerk” by the host of the awards show.
Fans and pundits branded Ballon d’Or presenter Martin Solveig “disgraceful” for publicly insulting Ada Hegerberg.
The 23-year-old Norwegian striker won the inaugural female trophy for helping her club Lyon win the first division in France.
Solveig, a 42-year-old French DJ, stunned the glitzy ceremony in Paris by asking Hegerberg if she knew how to perform the suggestive dance move.
She turned away embarrassed and said “no”.
British tennis ace Sir Andy Murray was one of the first to criticise Solveig, hitting out at “another example of the ridiculous sexism in sport”.
The former Wimbledon champion said: “What questions did they ask Mbappe and Modric [male winners Luka Modric and Kylian Mbappe]? I’d imagine something to do with football.
“And to everyone who thinks I’m overreacting and it was just a joke...it wasn’t.
“I’ve been involved in sport my whole life and the level of sexism is unreal.”
Former England footballer Rachel Yankey said: “I was shocked and disappointed that it should be overshadowed. She’s such a wonderful player. Why would you ask that?
“I think that a lot of education still needs to be done if people think that it’s OK.
“It’s a fantastic achievement and they should be singing her praises – not asking her to dance.”
Football pundit Gabby Logan retweeted a comment asking: “When will sport learn to respect women?”
Hegerberg, who pipped Denmark’s Pernille Harder to the top prize, later played down the controversy.
She said: “He came to me afterwards and was really sad that it went that way. I didn’t really consider it sexual harassment or anything in the moment. I was just happy to win the Ballon d’Or.”
Solveig has since blamed his gaffe on a “distortion of my English level and my English culture level which is obviously not good enough”.
He added: “I didn’t know that this could be seen as an offence.
“This was a joke, probably a bad one, and I want to apologise to the one I may have offended.
“I explained and she told me she understood it was a joke.
“Nevertheless, my apologies to anyone who may have been offended.
“Most importantly, congratulations to Ada.”