La Albiceleste’s 2024 Copa America Victory was marred with controversy following a video that went viral on social media. In the said video, the Argentinian Men’s squad can be seen singing an infamous chant which is regarding the French National team and has some racist and transphobic connotations. While returning back to their hotel rooms on the team bus after winning the Copa America final against Uruguay, the Argentinian midfielder Enzo Fernandez was live on Instagram showing an inside scoop of the celebrations happening to his followers.
Little did he know that decision would label him and his teammates as “Racist” and “Transphobic”. One of the chants that the Albiceleste players were singing on the bus was directed towards the French team. This very chant had become quite infamous before the 2022 WC Final in Qatar when a group of Argentinian fans started singing it in a TYC Sports broadcast
The highly controversial Chant goes like this:
“They play for France but come from Angola.
They will run well. They love to f*** trannies.
Their mother is Nigerian, their father is Cambodian,
but on the passport, French.”
The chant obviously has some very glaringly racist lyrics while also calling out Kylian Mbappe referring to his former partner who was a trans-woman. The French soccer federation has announced its intention to file a complaint with FIFA regarding “racist and discriminatory remarks” made by Argentine players in their post-match celebrations following their Copa America title victory.
Following these incidents, Wesley Fofana, Alex Disasi and some other Chelsea players have unfollowed their teammate Enzo Fernandez on Instagram. Jules Kounde, a French international further tweeted out saying, “Lamentable …🤮🤡🤡” referring to the now viral video. Moreover, Chelsea is said to be investigating this matter and might have to make Enzo Fernandes face some serious reparations.
With all this drama unfolding, Fernandez took to Instagram and wrote an apology on his Instagram story which ended with him saying that whatever was said in the euphoria of winning the Copa America is not what he as a person believes in or embraces.
But the harm is already done. Racism deserves no place in the beautiful sport of football and any acts that have any racist connotations like this particular chant shouldn’t go unnoticed. Controlling what the fans say is not possible, but as International players with so much experience at the top level, players should be better informed and better role models. Whatever Enzo Fernandez and his teammates have done is totally unacceptable and they should face its consequences. Meanwhile, on the internet, the Argentine national team have started being labelled as racists and while not all of them are culprits of this, the label isn’t unwarranted.
