More than half of all players at Euros and AFCON finals abused online

FIFA and FIFPRO have published an independent report that shows over 55 percent of the players who played in the

and AFCON finals were abused online before, during, and after the game.

The report has revealed that homophobic slurs and racism were the most common forms of detected abuse.

Over 400,000 posts across Twitter and Instagram were examined and 541 cases of direct discrimination or other forms of abuse were discovered.

The independent report showed that 40 percent of abusive messages contained homophobic content and 38 percent were racist. Most of the abuse originated from the home nation of the players being targeted.

The report said a substitute player from

was the most abused player at the AFCON. Black players who missed penalties for

were also  the most abused players in the Euro 2020 Final.

FIFA has promised it would collaborate with FIFPRO to implement a plan to protect teams, players, officials, and supporters from abuse on social media during upcoming tournaments such as World Cup in Qatar.

"Our duty is to protect the football, and that starts with the players who bring so much joy and happiness to all of us by their exploits on the field of play,"

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said.

"We want our actions to speak louder than our words and that is why we are taking concrete measures to tackle the problem directly.”

FIFPRO President David Aganzo said:

"Online abuse is a societal issue and as an industry, we cannot accept that this new form of abuse and discrimination affects so many people including our players."

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