20,000 abusive social media posts made during Fifa World Cup, England v France with the highest proportion
There were almost 20,000 abusive social media posts aimed at players, teams and officials during last year’s Fifa World Cup, according to a new report by the sport’s governing body and player union Fifpro released yesterday.
The 19,600 abusive messages came from 12,600 accounts during the showpiece event held in Qatar last winter.
Fifa went on to say that they analysed 20m posts though specialist moderation software and hid nearly 300,000 abusive comments from sight.
“The figures and findings in this report do not come as a surprise, but they are still massively concerning,” said Fifpro president David Aganzo.
“They represent a strong reminder for everyone involved in our game, and it must lead to providing preventative measures and solutions for players who are increasingly facing this type of abuse.”
The report also stated that 38 per cent of identifiable abuse came from accounts based in Europe and 36 per cent originated in South America.
Argentina went on to win the iconic event, beating France 4-2 on penalties having drawn 3-3 after the regulation 90 and extra-time.
The abuse aimed at players, coaches and officials at the World Cup follows abuse suffered by some of the England players after their Euro 2020 final defeat.
More than 300 players were targeted with racist abuse, according to the tournament analysis undertaken by Fifa and player union Fifpro, while homophobia and threat of violence was also prolific.
England’s defeat against France saw the most related abuse, followed by the World Cup final and then Morocco against Portugal. The aftermath of England’s tournament exit also saw a significant level of abuse.