Kylian Mbappe Charges French Federation President With Ignoring Racist Abuse

Following his penalty miss at Euro 2020, France player Kylian Mbappe accused the head of the French Football Federation (FFF) of disregarding racial insults.

The world champions were eliminated from the competition when the Paris Saint-Germain star’s crucial spot-kick against Switzerland was saved in the last-16 shootout.

Furious fans abused the 23-year-old on social media, and he even pondered leaving the national team as a consequence. FFF president Noel Le Graet complained about Mbappe’s lack of support following the Euro elimination in an interview with a Sunday publication.

“He (Mbappe) believed the federation had not protected him following his missed penalty and the criticism on social media networks,” according to Le Graet.

“We met each other in my office for five minutes,” Le Graet added, adding that the attacker “no longer wanted to play in the French squad – which he plainly did not think.”

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Mbappe reacted on Twitter on Sunday, noting that Le Graet had not considered the “racism” to which he would have been subjected.

“Yes, ultimately, I communicated to him (Le Graet) that it was about racism, not about the penalty,” Mbappe stated.

“However, he believed there had been no racism…”

Last September, Le Graet was chastised for claiming that racism in sports “does not exist or rarely occurs.”

After the Euros, the Paris prosecutor’s office revealed it was looking into racist remarks sent at various French international players.

FIFA released research on Saturday indicating an increase in the number of insults directed against players on social media.

According to the research, 38% of them were racist.