French national team players victims of racism on social networks after the match against Argentina

France team goal scorer Jean-Philippe Mateta was notably attacked by Argentinian supporters on social media, in a tense context of new rivalry between the two teams.

A new level was reached in the sporting and extra-sporting rivalry between the French and the Argentinians on Friday, August 2. While the quarter-final of the Olympic tournament, won by Thierry Henry’s Blues (1-0), ended in scuffles on the pitch, several players from the French team have since been victims of racist insults on social networks from opposing supporters.

The evening’s scorer, Jean-Philippe Mateta, who had a run-in with the Argentinian players at the start of added time in the first half, is particularly targeted. The publication, shared on his Instagram account after the match, has, on Saturday morning, August 3, more than 6,000 comments, much more than his other posts, many of which are racist messages. This is also the case for the publication two days ago (the comments on the most recent one being restricted) by Loïc Badé celebrating qualification for the quarter-finals.

Tensions between the two countries had been running high after Argentina’s victory in the Copa America final two weeks ago, when some players were filmed singing a verse of a racist chant: “Listen, pass it around. They play in France but they all come from Angola…” Passages or the entirety of this verse have notably been taken up in the numerous comments published under the photos of Jean-Philippe Mateta, as well as references to the song, such as “When is Angola playing?”and monkey emojis.

Two weeks ago, following the publication of the video of the Argentinian chant, two players from the French senior team, Jules Koundé and Wesley Fofana, were also victims of racist insults after publicly condemning the video. FIFA (International Football Federation) announced the opening of an investigation into the whole affair.