FFF to press charges after racist attack on Mbappé by Paraguayan senator
The French Football Federation is pursuing legal action after a Paraguayan senator launched a racist tirade against Kylian Mbappé, highlighting the persistent intersection of European sport and xenophobic abuse.
Kylian Mbappé has condemned Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla as a "despicable woman" following a racist attack on social media, prompting the French Football Federation (FFF) to announce criminal charges. The incident occurred after Mbappé scored the decisive penalty in France’s 1-0 victory over Paraguay in Philadelphia on Saturday, securing a place in the World Cup quarter-finals.
In a lengthy post on X, Amarilla described the France captain as a "colonised Cameroonian, desperately trying to pass himself off as French" and a "brute who had not learned to write". She also suggested Paraguay’s players should have slapped him after the match.
Mbappé responded by defending both his own identity and the conduct of the Paraguayan team. “Madame Celeste Amarilla, you are a despicable woman and unworthy of your position. You do not represent Paraguay, that country which has sweated passion and honour throughout the competition,” he wrote.
He argued that her outburst had overshadowed her nation's sporting achievements. “Through your recklessness and your brazen racism, the entire world has already forgotten the journey and the historic effort that your players accomplished during this World Cup, making way for an incompetent woman who gives the worst possible image of her country. I will never allow people like her the freedom to spread their hatred and racism across the world.”
The FFF rapidly escalated the matter beyond a sports dispute, framing it as a national insult requiring judicial intervention. The federation announced it was reporting the matter to the public prosecutor’s office with a view to legal proceedings.
“These remarks are criminal and reprehensible. They must be prosecuted here as elsewhere,” the federation stated, describing the comments as “utterly abhorrent and unacceptable”.
“These remarks bring shame upon those who make them and those who disseminate them. The players of the French national team represent France; it is our country that is being insulted,” the FFF added.
For European public life, the episode underscores how high-profile sports figures increasingly become flashpoints for broader political and racial debates. By pursuing criminal charges, the FFF is setting a precedent that institutional responses to racist abuse will extend beyond the pitch into the courts.
