- Enzo Fernandez filmed a video of his Argentina teammates singing on Sunday
- The song, a racist chant about French players, has been widely condemned
- Wesley Fofana, a teammate of Fernandez’s at Chelsea, called it ‘blatant racism’
Chelsea are investigating a controversial video made by midfielder Enzo Fernandez, which appears to show the Argentine national team celebrating their Copa America win by chanting a “racist and discriminatory” slogan about the French team.
That is how the French Football Federation (FFF) described the images through its president Philippe Diallo, while at the same time promising to file a legal complaint with FIFA.
Fernandez’s Chelsea teammate Wesley Fofana, a Frenchman with an Ivorian father, responded on X (formerly Twitter) by calling the video “unabashed racism”.
Argentina successfully defended their Copa America title in the final on Sunday, beating Colombia 1-0.
Chelsea are now conducting their own investigation after their player became the centre of the storm, with sources saying they are taking the matter seriously and are dealing with it appropriately.
Enzo Fernandez filmed as Argentina football team started chanting racist slogan
Social media users have criticised the chants as ‘disgusting’ and ‘sickening’
The Copa America winners defeated Colombia in extra time on Sunday night in Miami, Florida
The song came into public consciousness when Argentine fans chanted it on TV during the 2022 World Cup
It is claimed that the French squad are ‘all from Angola’ and that they ‘fuck transgenders like that f***ing Mbappe’
The Premier League club has a large number of French players who are black or of mixed descent, including Malo Gusto, Lesley Ugochukwu, Christopher Nkunku, Fofana, Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile.
Fofana shared footage of the video originally recorded by Fernandez with the caption in French: ‘Football in 2024: rampant racism’, followed by three facepalm emojis.
The song dates from the 2022 World Cup final, in which Argentina defeated France. The lyrics describe French players as being ‘from Angola’ or having a ‘Nigerian’ mother and a ‘Cameroonian’ father.
The FFF condemned the slogan, adding: ‘Given the seriousness of these shocking comments, which are contrary to the values of sport and human rights, the President of the FFF has decided to denounce his Argentine counterpart and FIFA directly, filing a legal complaint for offensive comments of a racist and discriminatory nature.’
Fernandez grinned, but quickly stopped the Instagram livestream as the song started
Eduardo Camavinga was the only French player at the 2022 World Cup who was born in Angola