Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana and Burnley midfielder Hannibal Mejbri have been the targets of racist abuse on Instagram since their teams’ recent Premier League match at Stamford Bridge. The terrible situation unfolded after Saturday’s 1-1 draw, and both players posted screenshots of the rude messages they got.
Fofana, who got two yellow cards and was sent off in the 72nd minute of the game, posted several racist messages and a strong statement. The 25-year-old French defender said on his Instagram story that racism in football hasn’t changed at all. Fofana said that even though there are big campaigns against racism, people who do it are never punished.
Hannibal, a 23-year-old Tunisian international who played the whole 90 minutes at Stamford Bridge, also shared a screenshot of racist abuse he got. The Burnley midfielder wrote a message asking people to teach themselves and their kids about how bad this kind of behavior is.
Chelsea put out a strong statement calling the racist abuse Fofana received “appalling” and “disgusting.” The Blues made it clear that this kind of behavior is not acceptable and goes against the values of the game and everything they stand for as a club. Chelsea said they would work with the appropriate authorities and platforms to identify the responsible and take the strongest possible action.
Burnley also put out a statement saying how upset they were about the racist abuse that Hannibal received online after the Premier League game. The Clarets said they won’t stand for any kind of discrimination and have told Instagram’s parent company, Meta, about the post. They expect strong support from Meta, the Premier League, and the police.
This isn’t the first time Mejbri has been the target of racist abuse. For example, Preston North End forward Milutin Osmajic was banned for nine games and fined £21,000 after being found guilty of racially abusing the midfielder during a Championship game against Burnley last November. Chelsea also strongly condemned the racist abuse that Fofana faced in May 2025 after they lost to Arsenal.
The Vinicius Junior Incident Shows That Racism Is Still A Problem In Football
These accusations against Fofana and Hannibal come just days after Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior was reportedly called racist names during a Champions League match against Benfica on February 17, 2026. UEFA have hired an ethics and disciplinary inspector to look into claims that Vinicius was called a racist slur during the game in Lisbon. The referee stopped the game for 10 minutes after Vinicius complained about Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni, and the referee activated FIFA’s anti-racism rules.
The 25-year-old Brazilian forward, who has played for Brazil 45 times and has been the target of 18 legal complaints about racist behavior against him since 2022, said that Prestianni made racist comments to him after he scored the winning goal for Real Madrid. After the game, Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe gave a detailed account, saying he heard Prestianni racially abuse Vinicius.