New Delhi: The footballing world is shocked by the mean demeanour of the current world and COPA champions. Post the 16th COPA America title, the Argentine team returned amidst a lot of celebration and enjoyment with their fellow countrymen. The La Albiceleste were riding on the rooftop of a bus and were cutting through a sea of people.
But in their celebration and merrymaking, Messi’s team seems to have crossed the line and hurled racist remarks at French players. Enzo Fernandez who was also part of this racist mimicry was seen filming the entire fiasco live on his Instagram handle.
🚨 Enzo Fernández statement to apologize after racist chants. pic.twitter.com/IW1uDPoPne
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 16, 2024
Fernandez, who pledges his club football for Chelsea F.C. has received backlash from his teammates as well. Enzo’s Chelsea teammate and French footballer, Wesley Fofana has also come out in the open to hit out against the Argentina players. Furthermore, as a sense of solidarity, Fofana was found using the quote “Football in 2024. Unabashed racism.” The matter is currently being investigated by the club. Although Enzo issued a public apology, it needs to be seen whether his journey with Chelsea continues smoothly or not.
Garnacho & Licha weren’t involved in the Enzo racism video!!
— 𝕲𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖆𝖈𝖍𝖔 ⚕️(Fan) (@Garnacho__utd) July 16, 2024
What is this new video that is gaining so much clout in the footballing circles?
After Argentina won its 16th COPA America title, the entire Squad was seen partying and merrying. However, amidst this celebration, the Argentine players crossed the line and started a “racist dance” which received a lot of criticism from footballing circles.
The song had words and lyrics like this, “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.” Furthermore, it also had lyrics which were extremely problematic for the French national team captain Kylian Mbappe who had an alleged association with a transgender model Ines Rau.
The FFF hits out at Enzo and Co.
Since the players who were mocked in the Instagram Live were French, the French Football Federation (FFF) which is the governing body of France’s national football has hit out at the Argentine players. FFF’s President, Phillippe Diallo has hit out at the entire incident as “abusive remarks of a racial and discriminatory nature.”
Furthermore, the FFF released a press statement which said, “The President of the Fédération Française de Football, Philippe Diallo, condemns in the strongest possible terms the unacceptable racist and discriminatory comments made against players of the French national team in the context of a song sung by players and supporters of the Argentina team after its victory in the COPA America and broadcast in a video on social networks.”
The press statement further stated, “In view of the seriousness of these shocking remarks, which run counter to the values of sport and human rights, the President of the FFF has decided to take his Argentine counterpart and FIFA directly to court and to file a complaint for racially offensive and discriminatory remarks.
