French Federation to File Complaint Over ‘Unacceptable Racist’ Chants by Argentina Players in Copa America Celebrations
Tom Burrows et al., The Athletic, July 16, 2024
The French Football Federation (FFF) says it will file a legal complaint over an “unacceptable, racist and discriminatory” chant made by Argentina players following their Copa America success on Sunday night.
The FFF added that its president, Philippe Diallo, has challenged his FIFA and Argentinian Football Association counterparts — Gianni Infantino and Claudio Fabian Tapia respectively — to respond to the “shocking remarks, contrary to the values of sport and human rights”.
Argentina successfully defended their Copa America title by defeating Colombia 1-0 in Sunday’s final, courtesy of a Lautaro Martinez goal in extra time. Footage posted by Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez on his Instagram account in the aftermath of the final showed him and his team-mates chanting about the France national team. The 23-year-old was sharing a live video on Instagram in which he and several of his team-mates, who could not be identified by the footage, began the chant before the live video was abruptly ended.
Argentina defeated France in a penalty shootout in the 2022 World Cup final, with some fans of the South American nation at that tournament singing a chant ahead of that match referencing how many France players were of African heritage and were first or second-generation immigrants in the nation.
The words to the chant were: “They play for France, but their parents are from Angola. Their mother is from Cameroon, while their father is from Nigeria. But their passport says French.”
France defender Wesley Fofana, a Black team-mate of Fernandez at Chelsea, then posted a video of the incident on X accompanied with the caption: “Football in 2024: uninhibited racism”. Fofana’s message was met with racist replies from other users on X and Instagram.
Following this, Fernandez, 23, posted an apology on social media, admitting that “the song includes highly offensive language and there is absolutely no excuse for these words”.
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