The Argentina squad has been denounced after Enzo Fernandez posted a video in which they appear to start singing a racist chant about French footballers.
A rowdy Argentine contingent danced and chanted on the team bus after their 1-0 win over Colombia in the Copa America final – South America’s equivalent of the Euros.
Chelsea star Fernandez posted a live stream of their celebrations but quickly cut it off as the team seemingly began to revive a racist song from the 2022 World Cup.
Ahead of the 2022 Qatar World Cup final, Argentine fans incanted the vile song which claims French players ‘are all from Angola’ and that they ‘f*** transgender people like f***ing Mbappe’ – seemingly a reference to the star’s former reported romance with transgender model Ines Rau).
Social media users have condemned the squad’s chanting as ‘disgraceful’, ‘disgusting’, and ‘racist’.
Enzo Fernandez filmed as the Argentine football squad appeared to start singing a racist chant
Social media users have slammed the chanting as ‘digusting’ and ‘sickening’
The Copa America winners beat Colombia on Sunday night in extra time in Miami, Florida
The song originated in public when Argentina fans chanted it on TV at the 2022 World Cup
It claims the French squad ‘are all from Angola’ and that they ‘f*** transgender people like f***ing Mbappe’
Recordings of Fernandez’s video show the team seemingly at least singing the Angola portion of the song while he grins, though he ends it before they reach the part relating to Kylian Mbappe.
Only one player in the French squad for the 2022 World Cup, Eduardo Camavinga, was born in Angola.
Chelsea star Fernandez had been filming before Argentina’s players started singing this particular song but ended the Instagram live seconds after the racist chant began.
Fans on X slammed Argentina for singing the song.
‘Enzo Fernandez!!! Disgusting is an understatement! I will never ever defend a racist no matter what,’ wrote one user on X, formerly Twitter.
‘Somebody tell me this is a joke,’ another said.
‘Sickening,’ one wrote.
‘This is so embarrassing. Racist chants are an unacceptable behavior. Enzo Fernandez and the Argentina team doing this tells a lot about them,’ one wrote.
MailOnline has contacted the Argentine Football Association for comment.
The song was originally widely heard at the 2022 World Cup when it was song by Argentina fans in a television interview.
Fernandez was grinning but quickly stopped the Instagram livestream when the song began
Eduardo Camavinga was the only French player at the 2022 World Cup who was born in Angola
The supporters, wearing Argentina shirts, were asked to perform a chant while being interviewed on TyC Sports, one of the main sports channels in their home country, ahead of the tournament.
The reporter conducting the interview with the group of Argentina fans then asks them to stop – but only after both of the derogatory chants had been aired, seemingly in full.
At the 2024 Copa America final, 27 people were arrested and another 55 were ejected in a wildly chaotic scene.
Fans without tickets rushed security and tried to force their way into the Hard Rock Stadium, organizers said, leading to a chaotic scene at the future World Cup venue.
Police initiated a lockdown and hundreds of fans were stuck outside in sweltering heat as South American football’s governing body CONMEBOL repeatedly delayed the match between Argentina and Colombia. The match finally kicked off over an hour late.
Colombian federation president Ramon Jesurun and his son were among 27 people arrested. The pair were accused of fighting security personnel after the match ended.
They face three felony counts of battery, according to a criminal complaint reviewed by Reuters. The Colombian federation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
