Subtitle, Enzo Fernández plays for English club Chelsea. Article information
- Author, Writing
- role, BBC News World
- 17 July 2024
Updated July 18, 2024
The Argentine soccer team is at the center of controversy because of a chant made by some of its players during the celebration of the Copa América title won this Sunday in Miami.
In it, they referred to the African origin of some of the French team players and used homophobic insults to refer to Mbappé.
These chants, used by some Argentina fans during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, were sung by several Argentine players, including Chelsea’s English midfielder Enzo Fernández, who broadcast the celebration live through his account Instagram.
This Tuesday evening the French Football Federation (FFF) announced that sue the Argentine Football Association (AFA) for the team’s “racist” chants.
“The president of the French Football Federation, Philippe Diallo, condemns in the strongest possible way the unacceptable comments racist and discriminatory made against the players of the French team in the context of a chant sung by the players and fans of the Argentine team after their victory in the Copa América and broadcast in a video on social networks,” the FFF said in a statement.
And they added: “Given the seriousness of these disturbing comments, contrary to the values of sport and human rights, the president of the FFF decided to directly denounce his Argentine counterpart and FIFA, and file a judicial complaint for offensive comments that. racial nature.
Subtitle, Fernández’s teammate at Chelsea is Frenchman Wesley Fofana (centre).
“Racism without complications”
Fernández’s French team-mates at Chelsea showed their disapproval of their team-mate’s celebrations.
The 23-year-old player Wesley Fofana published an image of Fernández’s celebration on his Instagram account with the sentence “Football in 2024: racism without excuse.”
In addition to Fofana, who has an Ivorian father and a French mother, his colleagues Disasi and Malo Gusto, who also have African roots, joined the protest and stopped following their partner Fernández on social networks.
This Wednesday, Fernández, who bought the English club Chelsea for more than US$ 100 million two seasons ago, published a statement in which he apologized for the excitement during the celebration.
“I would like to sincerely apologize for a video posted on my Instagram channel during the national team celebration. “The language in the song is extremely offensive and there is no excuse for these words,” said the 23-year-old.
“I oppose discrimination of all kinds and I apologize for getting caught up in the euphoria of our Copa América celebrations. “That video, that moment, those words, do not reflect my faith or my character,” he said.
Subtitle, Philippe Diallo is the president of the French Football Federation.
The Milei government protects the players
Despite the critical reactions that the dialects provoked, The government of President Javier Milei came out to defend the players.
The Casa Rosada announced the dismissal of the Sports Undersecretary Julio Garro after he asked Leo Messi, due to his status as captain of the Argentine national team, and as president of the AFA, to apologize for the events.
“The Office of the President points out that no government can tell what to think, what to think or what to do to the Argentine National Team, the World Champion and the Champions League -America’s time, than that of any other citizen. For this reason, Julio Garro is no longer the Undersecretary of Sports of the Nation,” said that agency on the X social network.
For her part, the vice president of Argentina, Victoria Villarruel, called France a colonial country and declare that they will not be intimidated by song, or by telling the truths to France that they do not want to hear.
“Enough feigning feigning, hypocrites. Enzo, I will give you a bench, Messi, thank you for everything! “The Argentinians were always up!” he said in a message on X.
Disciplinary sanction
Chelsea FC issued a statement last Wednesday saying it will begin a disciplinary investigation within the club into the actions of Enzo Fernández.
“Chelsea considers discriminatory behavior of any kind to be unacceptable (…) We recognize and appreciate the public apology of our players and will use this as an opportunity to educate. The Club has initiated an internal disciplinary procedure,” they said.
Argentina beat Colombia 1-0 last Sunday in extra time of the Copa América final, clinching their 16th title in this competition, prompting celebrations from Argentina’s players.
The controversial chant became popular during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, especially after Argentina beat France in the final to win the third orbital title in their history.
A FIFA spokesman told the BBC that they are “aware of a video circulating on social media” and that “the incident is being investigated”.
They added: “FIFA strongly condemns any form of discrimination by anyone, including players, fans and officials.”
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