French fury at Argentina's Copa America insults

The French Football Federation (FFF) said on Tuesday it plans to lodge a complaint with FIFA and take legal action after racist chants from members of Argentina's Copa America winning team.

FFF president Philippe Diallo "condemned with the greatest firmness the unacceptable racist and discriminatory remarks made against players of the France team".

The chants were heard during a live video posted on social media by Chelsea and Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez from the team bus in the wake of the Copa victory over Colombia in Miami on Sunday.

Some players, including Fernandez, sing a chant dating back to the 2022 World Cup final that Argentina won against France.

The players were heard singing the first two lines of the song which begins: "On passport, French nationality, listen, spread the word, they play in France, but they are all…", before someone is heard saying "cut the video". The chant continues: "Listen, spread the word, they play in France, but they are all from Angola, they are going to run well, they like to sleep with trans people, their mum is Nigerian, their dad is Cameroonian, but on the passport it says: French." But it is unclear whether the players continued singing.

Here is Enzo Fernandez and Argentina players celebrating that Copa America win by singing that racist France chant from the 2022 World Cup pic.twitter.com/pxoaX2MApE

— GC (@ValverdeSZN) July 15, 2024

The song targets France's star striker Kylian Mbappe and includes homophobic insults.

"Faced with the seriousness of these shocking remarks, contrary to the values of sport and human rights, the president of the FFF decided to directly challenge his Argentine counterpart and FIFA and to file a legal complaint for racial and discriminatory offensive remarks," an FFF statement read.

French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera also called for world football's governing body FIFA to take action.

"Pathetic. Behaviour all the more unacceptable because it is repeated," Oudea-Castera wrote on X.

"FIFA: a reaction?" she added.

Argentina and France have maintained a heated rivalry since the South Americans last 16 elimination to eventual champions France at the 2018 World Cup.

Two years ago, the FFF also filed a complaint against racist comments on social media.