Argentina's national team has urged fans to refrain from using offensive or discriminatory chants during Thursday's CONMEBOL World Cup qualifier against Chile to avoid possible sanctions from FIFA.
“In the event of offensive or discriminatory chants, FIFA will impose a sanction of reduced capacity at Argentina's next home match,” the team said in a post on social media.
If anti-gay or racist chants are heard at the Estadio Más Monumental during the match against Chile, the penalty would be applied to the World Cup qualifying match against Bolivia on October 15 in Buenos Aires.
The plea of The Albiceleste It comes after Enzo Fernandez posted a video of the team singing the discriminatory chant that targeted French players of African descent following the 1-0 win over Colombia in the Copa America final.
Chelsea and FIFA have launched an investigation into the incident after the French Football Federation revealed it would file a legal complaint over the “racist and discriminatory comments”.
Despite the negative reaction, the clip posted on Instagram inspired Argentine fans to repeat the chant and sing it at several football matches across the country.
The same chants also arose before Argentina faced France in the 2022 World Cup final.
Argentina now insists that fans show their support without using offensive language.
“Support without discrimination. Insulting does not help. It hurts,” the video says.
Argentina heads into the September window in first place in CONMEBOL's World Cup standings with 15 points from six games.
The Albiceleste will host Chile on Thursday before travelling to Colombia for the second match of the international date.
