The Argentina national team urged fans to refrain from using offensive or discriminatory chants in the World Cup CONMEBOL qualifying match against Chile on Thursday to avoid any potential sanctions by FIFA.
“If offensive or discriminatory chants are present, FIFA will apply a sanction of a capacity reduction in the next Argentina match hosted at home,” the team said in a social media post.
Should the anti-gay or racist chants be heard at the Estadio Mâs Monumental for the game against Chile, the penalty would be applied to the World Cup qualifier against Bolivia on Oct. 15 in Buenos Aires.
The plea from La Albiceleste comes after Enzo Fernández released a video of the team singing the discriminatory chant that singled out France players of African heritage following the 1-0 win over Colombia in the Copa América final.
Chelsea and FIFA opened an investigation into the incident after the French Football Federation revealed it would file a legal complaint over the “racist and discriminatory remarks.”
Despite the backlash, the clip posted to Instagram inspired Argentina fans to repeat the chant and sing it at various football matches throughout the country.
The same chants also emerged before Argentina faced France in the 2022 World Cup final.
Argentina now insist fans show support without using offensive language.
“Support without discriminating, Insulting doesn’t help. It harms,” said the video.
Argentina head into the September window in first place of the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying standings with 15 points in six games.
La Albiceleste host Chile on Thursday before traveling to Colombia for the second match of the international dates.
