Kingsley Coman among France players subjected to racist abuse after World Cup final defeat

Kingsley Coman, Randal Kolo-Muani and Aurelien Tchouameni were all targeted for racist abuse after France lost the World Cup final to Argentina.

Coman and Tchouameni both missed in the penalty shootout, and Kolo-Muani missed a glorious chance to win it at the end of extra time while the score was still locked at 3-3.

That saw all three subjected to racial abuse on their social media channels with a string of derogatory comments and emojis with clear racist intent.

The abuse was so vile that it prompted Tchouameni and Kolo-Muani to deactivate their accounts, although both were back up again later with the comments deleted.

Coman and Kolo-Muani were substitutes that made a definite impact on the game as France fought back from 2-0 down late in the second half to force extra time. The latter scored in the World Cup semi-final too, while Tchouameni was on the scoresheet against England in the quarter-final.

The abuse was similar to that which England stars Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho suffered after missing penalties in the final of Euro 2020.

There were a number of prison sentences handed out on that occasion, with UEFA among those to push for the punishments, and questions will be asked of FIFA to do the same.