The remarks, made by Arsène Wenger during a congress of German coaches, on May 24 in Freiburg, will not have remained a dead letter.
“Kylian Mbappé has African origins, but he was trained in Europe.
If he had been born in Cameroon, he would not have become this player, assured the former French coach of Arsenal, currently director of development for Fifa.
There is Europe and the rest of the world, and the rest of the world needs help, otherwise we will lose too much talent”.
“Conmebol rejects and condemns the very unfortunate words of the senior FIFA official, very close to the presidency of the institution”, occupied by the Swiss Gianni Infantino, the confederation said in a press release.
“A disparaging bias”
The South American Football Confederation, chaired by Paraguayan Alejandro Dominguez, believes that Wenger, "in addition to revealing an unusual ignorance of the valuable contribution of African players to world football, especially to European football, shows a bias denigrating that makes invisible the efforts of footballers and sports institutions that are not in Europe.
The most reprehensible prejudices are disguised as 'founded' and 'informed' reflections”.
"We South Americans know very well and firsthand this type of attitude that stems from the belief that the world begins and ends in Europe," adds Conmebol.
"The talent, the spirit of sacrifice and the desire to excel of African and South American players must be valued and respected," she said.
The South American Confederation also complained that neither it "nor its member federations were asked for an opinion or an analysis" about the authorization of the five substitutions, decided by the International board (Ifab ), guarantor of football laws, Monday in Doha.
Fifa holds four votes out of eight in Ifab decisions, the other four being the historic property of the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish Federations.
