Paris -

The voices of the French celebrations of the national team's victory in the FIFA World Cup did not hide the voices of hatred and racism that erupted on the social media platforms of some of the national team's players, who had to limit or cancel the comments in their Instagram posts.

As for the French opposition, it did not let the presence of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, pass unnoticed, and took advantage of the opportunity to mock him, especially after he ran towards the stadium to console the team.

honteux.

Total soutien à Kingsley Coman et à tous les joueurs victimes de commentaires racistes sur les réseaux sociaux, qui n'ont pas leur place dans le football no null part ailleurs.

#FiersDetreBleus@RomeIsabelle @equipedefrance @FFF https://t.co/cUAN7kWAyO

- Amelie Oudéa-Castéra (@ AOC1978) December 19, 2022

Racist comments

Several French players, including Choameni, Kolo Mwani and Kingsley Coman, were subjected to racist insults on their social media pages after the defeat to Argentina.

The insults focused mainly on the publication of emojis in the form of gorillas or monkeys and phrases such as "dirty Africans", "niggers" and "slaves".

On the other hand, Sports Minister Amelie Odia Castera re-published a tweet by the "Bayern Munich" team, which denounced the racist comments against its striker Koeman.

Castera said in her tweet: "This is disgraceful. Full support for Koeman and all the players who have been victims of racist comments on social media that have no place in football or anywhere else."

These behaviors, which were described as "immoral", are reminiscent of the racism that targeted Kylian Mbappe after the missed penalty kick that led to France's elimination against Switzerland in the round of 16 of Euro 2021.

Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, 35, has also been the target of public hate messages with cartoon videos and comments such as "dirty white", "son of a bitch" and "worst goalkeeper in penalty kick history".

And the French Football Federation announced that it had filed a complaint against everyone who commented on racist statements on social media platforms against several players of the French national team.

French politicians criticized the closeness shown by President Macron to Mbappe (Reuters)

Macron's clear bias towards Mbappe

On the other hand, minutes after the end of the match with a penalty shootout, French President Emmanuel Macron went to the field to support the player Kylian Mbappe, the scorer of France's three goals in the match, but the pictures that were taken of both of them were quickly exploited by the opponents of the President of the Elysee.

"The Blue Team made us dream," Macron tweeted, before explaining to the press that he shared the players' disappointment with the loss, "especially because we are close to the goal," as he put it.

Stressing that he is proud of their achievement.

However, the President of the Republic emphasized over and over again the special and exceptional performance presented by Mbappe.

"He is only 24 years old... I was at least as sad as he was," he added.

The deputy of the National Assembly, Sebastian Chino, commented on the “LCI” channel: “It was a bit shocking to see him yesterday trying to cling to Mbappe,” and he continued by saying, “When I see the President of the Republic rushing into the field or into the locker room. It wasn't appropriate, it was ridiculous."

While a member of the European Parliament, Manon Aubry, mocked the President of France in a tweet: "Don't worry Kylian, you can work until the age of 65 and win many World Cups!", referring to the pension law supported by Macron.

Fiers de vous.

pic.twitter.com/9RMjIGMKGU

- Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) December 18, 2022

"World Champion in Embarrassment"

French opponents have expressed more than once their refusal for the President of the Republic to travel to attend the matches of their national team during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar for political reasons, and all his movements, actions and words have been under the microscope of the right and the opposition parties that showered him with criticism.

A member of the National Assembly, Benjamin Lucas, did not delay in mocking Macron, describing him as "the world champion in embarrassment."

For his part, the leader of the "Future Father France" party, Manuel Bompard, criticized Macron's conversation with the players in the changing room in a video clip in which he appeared as if he was giving a political speech that he concluded with the word "Thank you", recalling the same sentence that the president said at the beginning of the World Cup, "No." We have to politicize sports."

The first secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, like other deputies from the left, also published on Twitter an article from the magazine "So Foot" entitled "Macron, out of play along the line."

The article's editorial criticizes Emmanuel Macron's public stance during the World Cup, especially his pictures trying to console Kylian Mbappe, who "seems like he's barely listening to him."


Macron's appearance as a "commercial advertisement"

For his part, Professor of Political Communication at the Institute of Political Science, Philippe Moreau Chevrolet, considered that politicians' obsession with investing in the media field, even in sports, can turn against them and sometimes not be in their favor.

He added in media statements: "Like a commercial, Macron appeared compulsively on our screens, although he declared days before the start of the World Cup that politicizing sports is a bad idea."

A number of politicians saw sporting events - which are watched by millions around the world - as a way to reach out to the working classes and an embodiment of the unified spirit of France. One of the most important examples of this is the late French President Jacques Chirac's exploitation of his country's World Cup victory in 1998 politically.

And the lecturer in public law, Benjamin Morel, considers that "Macron is trying to refine his image as a football fan to erase his repeated description as the president of the rich and arrogant," describing the president's enthusiasm in the stands as "a semi-theatrical show that tries to make him more human."