Racism post World Cup Final
The GIST: While the entire nation of Argentina continues to celebrate their World Cup win, a disturbing soccer trend has re-emerged and is impacting runners-up France: racist abuse directed at Black players. Enough is enough.
The latest: Yesterday, the French soccer federation denounced racist social media comments aimed at national team players in the wake of Les Bleus World Cup final loss in Qatar.
- Superstar Kylian Mbappé — who notably scored a hat trick in the loss — and Bundesliga winger Kingsley Coman were among the players subjected to the hateful attacks.
- Fortunately, the response has been swift, with Coman’s club team Bayern Munich and France’s sports minister condemning the comments, and the nation’s governing soccer body saying they plan to file complaints against those who abused players.
The trend: If you’re getting the worst kind of déjà vu, you’re not alone. This latest instance comes a year and a half after Black players on England’s national team endured horrific racist abuse following their Euro 2020 final loss. Those comments prompted a police investigation that resulted in the arrest of 11 people.
Zooming out: As discussed on yesterday’s episode of The GIST of It, this World Cup, and sports in general, have the unique power to bring a divided world together, but they clearly aren’t insulated from the off-field problems that plague society beyond the pitch. Time to kick out the bullsh!t once and for all.
