‘Racism has no place in sport or our society’: Bayern Munich condemn vile abuse sent to Kingsley Coman on social media after his penalty miss for France in World Cup final after the winger received banana and monkey emojis
Bayern Munich have given their backing to Kingsley Coman after he was racially abused on social media in the wake of France’s World Cup final defeat by Argentina.
Coman, Aurelien Tchouameni and Randal Kolo Muani, who all featured in Sunday’s final, were subjected to vile messages on their accounts.
Tchouameni and Coman both missed penalties in the shootout that followed the 3-3 draw at the Lusail Stadium, while Kolo Muani missed a one-on-one opportunity late in extra time.
Kingsley Coman missed a penalty as France lost to Argentina in Sunday’s World Cup final
His club Bayern Munich condemned the racist social media messages the winger was sent
The trio received messages that included banana and monkey emojis in the aftermath of the defeat.
Bayern issued a social media message that read: ‘FC Bayern strongly condemn the racist comments made towards Kingsley Coman.
‘The FC Bayern family is behind you, King. Racism has no place in sport or our society.’
Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, condemned the abusive posts and said the messages had been removed.
A spokesperson for Meta told The Athletic: ‘We don’t want racist abuse on Instagram, and we’ve removed the disgusting comments for breaking our rules.
Aurelien Tchouameni (left) and Randal Kolo Muani (right) suffered racial abuse on social media after following France’s World Cup final defeat in a penalty shootout to Argentina on Sunday
‘We also want to help protect people from having to see this abuse in the first place, which is why we’ve developed Hidden Words, a feature that filters offensive comments and DMs, and Limits, which hides comments and DMs from people who don’t follow you, or only followed you recently.
‘We’re in touch with players and their teams directly, including since yesterday’s final, to offer them support and help them turn on these tools.’
Real Madrid’s Tchouameni has limited comments on his Instagram posts. Kolo Muani of Eintracht Frankfurt has turned them off. Coman, of Bayern Munich, is still accepting comments.
Coman (right) also suffered racial abuse following his penalty miss against Argentina
In a statement posted later, Bayern Munich wrote: ‘FC Bayern strongly condemn the racist comments made towards Kingsley Coman. The FC Bayern family is behind you, King. Racism has no place in sport or our society.’
The abuse received by the French players is similar to what occurred following England’s loss to Italy on penalties in the final of Euro 2020 last year.
After that game Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, who all missed penalties, received racist abuse online.
