A former footballer has filed a lawsuit against Pfizer, citing vaccinations as a cause of his injuries.

Former Auxerre and France youth team footballer François-Xavier Foumou Tamuzo has filed a lawsuit against Pfizer and BioNTech, the developers of the vaccine againstCOVID-19 . The striker, who retired at 29, wants to establish whether there is a connection between his injuries and the vaccination and seek compensation, France Bleu reports.

Tamuzo played for Laval in the French second league since 2021, but was forced to end his career towards the end of last season due to numerous injuries.

The former footballer maintains he is neither a conspiracy theorist nor an anti-vaccine advocate, but he would like the court to determine whether there is a connection between his injuries and the vaccine. "I would like to understand why my body stopped functioning," Tamuso said, claiming he suffered a series of injuries around the same time he received the coronavirus vaccine.

On July 30, 2021, Tamuso received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, and the second on August 23. After that, according to the footballer, he began experiencing problems. Initially, he developed pain in his left knee, followed by tendinitis (inflammation of the tendon) in October. In March 2022, he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon, shortly after the third dose of the vaccine.

"A long walk is barely bearable, and jogging is impossible. When I want to, for example, climb stairs, pick something up from a shelf, or even go down stairs, I experience severe pain," the footballer said of his current condition.

The French Football Federation (FFF) will also be a defendant, since, as Tamuzo's lawyer explains, it wasn't yet mandatory at the time the player was vaccinated. "The FFF is responsible in this matter. Before the law was passed, it developed a protocol for vaccinating football players," said Eric Lanzarone.

The first court hearing will take place on July 2 in Paris.