Chelsea have condemned racist abuse directed at defender Wesley Fofana on social media following his red card in Saturday’s draw against Burnley.
In a statement, Chelsea said: “Chelsea Football Club is appalled and disgusted by vile online racist abuse directed at Wesley Fofana.
“The targeted racist abuse Wes has been subjected to following today’s Premier League fixture against Burnley is abhorrent and will not be tolerated.
“Such behaviour is completely unacceptable and runs counter to the values of the game and everything we stand for as a club. There is no room for racism.
“We stand unequivocally with Wes. He has our full support, as do all our players who are too often forced to endure this hatred simply for doing their job. We will work with the relevant authorities and platforms in identifying the perpetrators and take the strongest possible action.”
In the hours after the game, Fofana took to his Instagram stories to share an example of some of the messages he has received on social media. He then followed it up with a post reading: “2026, it’s still the same thing, nothing changes.
“These people are never punished. You create big campaigns against racism, but nobody actually does anything.”
Burnley have also released a statement following online racist abuse towards Hannibal Mejbri.
“Everyone at Burnley FC is disgusted by the online racist abuse directed at Hannibal following today’s Premier League fixture,” the statement read.
“There is no place for this in our society and we condemn it unreservedly. The Club continues to be unequivocal in its stance – we have a zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination.
“The Club has reported the post to Instagram‘s parent company, Meta, and expects strong support from them, together with the Premier League and the Police, and will work to ensure that the individual responsible is identified and investigated.
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“Hannibal will receive the full backing from the Club and from the Burnley fans, who we have already seen condemning the abuse. There is no room for racism.”
Fofana’s red card means that he will serve a one-match suspension for Chelsea. He will therefore be unavailable to Liam Rosenior for next week’s Premier League clash against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
The problem of racism has been in the headlines this week, following the fallout of alleged comments made towards Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior during the Champions League clash between Benfica and Real Madrid.