At the heart of football's excitement, the French national team faces an insidious scourge: racism. Recent attacks target certain players, particularly those from diverse backgrounds, reflecting a deeper societal unease. Following overt racist attacks by a Paraguayan senator against the French captain, racist remarks from an Argentine vice-governor and a former Spanish government leader have followed. These openly assumed statements, despite subsequent apologies, are widely circulated on social media. They reveal not only alarming intolerance but also a tragic misunderstanding of the values sport is meant to promote. Yet football, the universal sport par excellence, should be a vector of unity and celebration of differences. Instead, it appears to become a platform for expressing muted and violent hatred. These deviations become a concern beyond stadiums and enter the political sphere. Racist remarks from high-ranking political officials in several countries show the issue far exceeds stadium boundaries and extends beyond sports. The phenomenon is not new. Racist attacks against athletes and discrimination in sports have long existed across many disciplines. Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton regularly faces racist comments on social media and sometimes from the public. Tennis player Naomi Osaka has suffered discrimination and spoken publicly about systemic racism in the United States. American basketball player LeBron James frequently becomes a target of racist remarks and vandalism despite his legendary status. In football, beyond recent incidents targeting Kylian Mbappé, Brazilian footballer Vinícius Júnior, playing for Real Madrid, is repeatedly targeted by insults and monkey chants in Spanish stadiums. Cameroonian footballer Samuel Eto'o regularly faced racist insults during his career in Spain. Many other elite athletes have faced similar situations. Facing this phenomenon, change is urgent. While sports authorities and political leaders have roles to play in combating this intolerance, the public remains a major actor in this fight, both in stadiums and beyond.