Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana took to his social media handle to slam teammate Enzo Fernandes for singing racist chants regarding French players and their African heritage during Argentina’s Copa America 2024 celebrations. Fernandes in his Instagram Live was seen singing racist chants along with the rest of the Argentina squad, who took an unprecedented dig towards the French Football team. The video has since gone viral on social media, and has also resulted in a legal case and a lot of backlash for the Chelsea number 8.
Fofana in his social media post, shared a screenshot from Enzo Fernandes’s video and labelled it “uninhibited racism”. According to multiple reports, several other players in Chelsea have since shown disgust and anger at Enzo’s actions. Enzo’s Chelsea teammates like Fofana, Malo Gusto and Axel Diasi have blocked the Argentine midfielder on social media since the video came up.
“Football in 2024: inhibited racism”, Fofana’s post read.
“They play for France, but their parents are from Angola. Their mother is from Cameroon, while their father is from Nigeria. But their passport says French,” The chants from Argentina’s squad and Enzo.
Moreover, The Governing Body of French Football, FFF, has also lodged a legal complaint on the Argentine squad and Enzo for the same.
“The president of the French Football Federation, Philippe Diallo, condemns in the strongest terms the unacceptable racist and discriminatory remarks which were made against the players of the French team in the context of a song sung by players and supporters of the Argentina team after its victory in the Copa América and broadcast in a video on social media…The president of the FFF decided to directly challenge his Argentinian counterpart and Fifa, and to file a legal complaint for insulting remarks of a racist and discriminatory nature,” A statement from FFF said.
Enzo has since issued and apology for the chants, through a special message via his social media accounts.
It is yet to see what the FFF, the Premier League and FIFA decides about this particular scenario and whether Enzo Fernandes is handed any punishment for his actions.