On Tuesday (16 July), Chelsea midfielder, Enzo Fernandez, uploaded a live stream on his Instagram of him and Argentinian teammates chanting aboard the team bus.
The chant seemingly mocks the French national team, in particular, the new Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappé.
The live stream has since blown up on social media, with netizens — including Enzo’s Chelsea teammates — calling him out for his racist remarks.
This incident occurred after the Copa America final on Sunday, with Argentina securing back-to-back victories following a 1-0 win against Colombia.
In the video, the Argentinian players can be heard singing a chat with racist lyrics directed at Mbappé and the French team.
“They play for France but they are from Angola,” a translation of the lyrics posted on X said.
“His mother is Nigerian. His father, Cameroonian. But on the passport: French,” continued the song.
Source: Getty Images on FourFourTwo
The French national team consists of 25 players, the majority of whom are of African heritage. Albeit their African ancestry, every single one of the players playing for the French National Team was born and raised in France.
The chant insinuates they are “not French” and are instead just “Africans”.
Enzo Fernandez’s Chelsea teammate and French international, Wesley Fofana, took to X to criticise the deliberate racism in the chants by the Argentina team.
He posted the video of Enzo’s livestream, captioning it: “Football in 2024: uninhibited racism”.
Chelsea Football Club has also launched an internal investigation regarding this matter and issued a statement on Wednesday morning stating that they find “all forms of discriminatory behaviour” completely unacceptable.
Barcelona and French defender, Jules Koundé, also expressed his disheartenment over the situation on X.
Moreover, the French Football Federation (FFF) has released a statement asserting their intent to file a formal legal complaint over the “unacceptable racist and discriminatory comments” made by the Argentina team.
Source: CentreGoals. on X
Following the incident, Enzo Fernandez has since issued an apology on his Instagram account.
In an Instagram story, he expressed regret for the “highly offensive language”, adding that there is “no excuse” for it.
“I stand against discrimination in all forms,” he added, saying that he merely got “caught up in the euphoria” of the Copa America celebration.
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Featured image adapted from Enzo Fernandez on Instagram.
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