World football body FIFA and French President Emmanuel Macron have come out to support Kylian Mbappé. They condemned racist comments made by Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla after the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Macron shared a post on his X account, calling out what he called Amarilla’s “racist attacks” on the captain of France. He reaffirmed the country’s backing for Mbappé.
“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 spoke against the senator’s remarks. He said football needs to stay united against racism.
“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 backlash came after Amarilla made her comments following France’s win over Paraguay in the Round of 16 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Saturday.
PUNCH Online reported that the controversy started after Mbappé scored the penalty that took France to the quarter-finals, sending Paraguay home.
The match ended with some tension, including a brief altercation after the final whistle. Videos showed Mbappé walking past Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill, who tried to shake his hand and then threw the ball at him.
“I tried to shake his hand, but since he didn’t pay me any attention, I lost my temper,” Gill said after the match.
After seeing a video of Gill talking about the incident, Amarilla referred to Mbappé as “a colonised Cameroonian who has really pretended to be French.”
She added that “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 also said Gill should have shown Mbappé “the finger.”
Amarilla continued to call Mbappé “a colonised Cameroonian, pretending hard to be French, resentful, newly rich, arrogant, and ugly,” and claimed he was “nervous and scared to death” during the match.
Mbappé responded to her remarks on his verified X account. He called Amarilla “a despicable woman” who does not deserve her position and accused her of being racist.
“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. Comments that question the nationality of French players of African descent have often been seen as racist and discriminatory.
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