Kylian Mbappe with his teammates after France’s EURO 2024 exit (AFP)
Players of the Argentina national team got into hot water online following their Copa America triumph for allegedly singing a racist chant for France.
The silence has finally been broken, and it is the French Football Federation who have opted to make the first move, as the FFF announced that they shall be taking legal action against the Argentina football team, in retaliation to their racist celebratory chants.
Players of the Argentina national team got into hot water online following their Copa America triumph for allegedly singing a racist chant for France. And as a reply, the FFF has issued an official statement, as a call for action.
“Faced with the seriousness of these shocking remarks, contrary to the values of sport and human rights, the president of the FFF decided to directly challenge his Argentine counterpart and FIFA and to file a legal complaint for insulting remarks of a racial and discriminatory nature,” it said in a statement.
| OFFICIAL: The French Football Federation is taking the Argentine Football Federation to court over ‘racial and discriminatory remarks.’ pic.twitter.com/jBAcaFy6zD— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) July 16, 2024
The Argentine squad was returning from the Hard Rock Stadium after the Copa America final when Enzo Fernandez started an Instagram live. In a celebratory moment, the team were captured singing a Spanish song before suddenly switching to the racist and transphobic chant, which was popularised by Argentina fans ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup final.
The controversial lyrics claim that all players of the French national team are from Angola, whilst their parents all hail from multiple parts of Africa, insinuating that none can claim France to be their true home.
During the feed from Chelsea and Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez’s live broadcast, the players could be heard singing: “They play for France, but they are from Angola. His mother is Nigerian, his father is Cameroonian. But on the passport: French.”
That’s when someone on the team bus asked Fernandez to “cut the video” and the Chelsea midfielder immediately ended the live broadcast.
Argentina’s Football Federation (AFA) is yet to address the viral footage from Enzo Fernandez’s Instagram live, and release a statement regarding the same.
