Cape Verde left back Sidny Lopes Cabral has detailed his battles with racism as a player in Germany's lower leagues and on social media after a controversial Champions League game for Benfica last season.
He is set to face holders Argentina in the World Cup last 32 on Saturday, but just a year and a half ago the 23-year-old was still playing in Germany's lower divisions.
"At matches it happened that I was racially abused, for example in a game against Jena. People in Germany surely know that some football fans in their country are very, very racist," he told the Süddeutschen Zeitung on Thursday about playing for Rot-Weiss Erfurt.
In February this year, Lopes Cabral was embroiled in the row over in whether his Benfica team-mate Gianluca Prestianni had verbally abused Brazilian Vinícius Júnior in a Champions League match against Real Madrid.
Afterwards the Cape Verde player was falsely accused of swapping shirts with Vinícius and of behaving disloyally towards Benfica as a result.
"I was insulted in many online messages, also racially abused, called a monkey. At some point I had to switch off my phone and disable the comment function under my posts," Lopes Cabral said.
Reports of players at the World Cup being racially abused on social media after defeats appals Lopes Cabral, who is joining Turkey's Trabzonspor.
"It is terrible that this is still happening in 2026. Players represent their country and are still treated like this. That is not acceptable," he said.
