French national soccer team captain Kylian Mbappé condemned Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla for racist comments made after France‘s match against Paraguay on Saturday, July 4
Amarilla’s remarks included offensive racial rhetoric about Mbappé’s identity and his performance during the match
The French Football Federation denounced her comments as unacceptable, and announced plans to pursue legal action against her
French national team Captain Kylian Mbappé is calling out Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla for her racist comments following France’s 2026 World Cup match against Paraguay on Saturday, July 4.
“Madame Celeste Amarilla, You are a despicable woman and unworthy of your position,” Mbappé, 27, wrote in a post on X , translated from French to English on Monday, July 6. “You do not represent Paraguay, that country which has sweated passion and honor throughout the competition.”
“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,” the French soccer player continued.
“I will never allow people like her the freedom to spread their hatred and racism across the world,” he concluded.
Mbappé’s response comes after Amarilla, 61, shared an Instagram post following Saturday’s match, in which she referred to him as a “colonized Cameroonian” and “desperately trying to pass himself off as French” as well as calling him “resentful, arrogant and ugly.”
In Saturday’s match, France defeated Paraguay 1-0.
“He was nervous and scared stiff for the whole match,” Amarilla continued in the caption, translated from Spanish to English. “Just like the rest of his team. They couldn’t score a single goal, and they won by the skin of their teeth.”
“The only thing many of us hold against the Albirroja is that they didn’t give him a good open-handed slap after the match was over,” she concluded the post, referring to Paraguay’s team by its nickname, La Albirroja. “And I’m not even a football fan.”
Amarilla began working in politics in the early 1980s and has served in the Senate of the Republic of Paraguay since 2023, The Athletic reported.
Earlier that evening, Amarilla made more racist remarks about Mbappé on X. In the post, she referred to him as a “brute” who “didn’t even learn to write.” She additionally compared him to a chimpanzee, writing that “instead of mother’s milk, he sucked on coconuts.”
Mbappé was born in Paris and raised in France. His father, Wilfrid Mbappé, was born in Cameroon, French outlet Le Monde reported in 2023 upon Mbappé’s first visit to the African nation. The country, once split between British and French colonization, gained independence in 1960.
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The French Football Federation (FFF) issued a statement in Mbappé’s defense, calling Amarilla’s “racist” remarks “completely abusive and unacceptable.”
“How can one hold such a speech? These words are delicate and reprehensible,” the FFF’s press release continued. “They must be prosecuted here as well as elsewhere. The FFF is reporting to the prosecutor’s office for the purpose of prosecution.”
The organization added that it “gives its full support to its captain, players and more generally to all victims of such hateful words.”
“These words dishonor those who hold them and those who spread them,” the statement concluded. “The players of Équipe de France represent France, it’s our country that is being insulted.”
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