France captain Kylian Mbappé received swift backing from FIFA and French President Emmanuel Macron after Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla made racist remarks following the 2026 FIFA World Cup match between France and Paraguay.
Macron, writing on X, denounced what he called Amarilla’s “racist attacks” on the France captain and reaffirmed France’s support for the forward.
“Another goal for Kylian Mbappé. Against racism this time. All my support. When words defile, our values respond: dignity, respect, fraternity. @KMbappe,” Macron wrote.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino also criticised the senator’s comments, underlining the sport’s stance against discrimination.
“All of football and society stand in solidarity with the France captain, we need to fight racism and defeat it all together,” Infantino wrote in an Instagram post.
The condemnation followed Amarilla’s remarks after France’s victory over Paraguay in the Round of 16 on Saturday, July 4, 2026. Mbappé had converted the decisive penalty that sent France into the quarter-finals, eliminating Paraguay.
Tensions flared after the final whistle when videos showed an exchange between Mbappé and Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill. The footage appears to show Mbappé walking past an attempted handshake by Gill, who then threw the ball at the France forward.
“I tried to shake his hand, but since he didn’t pay me any attention, I lost my temper,” Gill said after the match.
Reacting to a video of Gill recounting the incident, Amarilla described Mbappé as “a colonised Cameroonian who has really pretended to be French.”
“The brute didn’t even learn to write; instead of mother’s milk, he sucked on coconuts, and the most educated thing he heard was chimpanzees,” she wrote of Mbappé, adding that Gill should have shown the France star “the finger.”
She also described Mbappé as a “colonised Cameroonian, pretending hard to be French, resentful, newly rich, arrogant, and ugly,” and claimed he had been “nervous and scared to death” throughout the match.
Mbappé had earlier responded to the remarks on his verified X handle, describing Amarilla as “a despicable woman” who was unworthy of her office and accusing her of racism.
“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,” Mbappé wrote.
He added, “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.”
Mbappé was born in Paris to a Cameroonian father and a French-Algerian mother. Remarks questioning the nationality of French players of African descent have frequently been condemned as racist and discriminatory.
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