Online hate swamps Dutch players and hundreds of others at World Cup

More than half of the 1,606 players, coaches and officials monitored by FIFA during the World Cup became victims of discriminatory abuse online, with 812 individuals targeted, the governing body revealed on Friday, a day before the global mental‑health day.

Scale of abuse revealed by FIFA

FIFA’s own monitoring system recorded more than 240,000 abusive comments across social platforms. The federation handed 786 accounts over to police for further investigation. The most‑harassed individual received over 10,000 hateful messages, 40 percent of which were racist, and FIFA confirmed that racism was the most common form of online hate.

Dutch players and others face online hate

After the Netherlands’ (Oranje) round‑of‑16 exit at the hands of Marokko, Quinten Timber, Justin Kluivert and Crysencio Summerville missed their penalties in the decisive shoot‑out. Their Instagram feeds were then flooded with racist slogans and images of monkeys, prompting the trio to disable comments on their posts. The accompanying photograph by Pim Ras captures the three players in the aftermath, and the FIFA report even quoted the Dutch phrase “Meer dan de helft” to stress the scale of the problem.

Similar abuse surfaced elsewhere. Norwegian striker Alexander Sørloth – now with Atlético Madrid after a spell at FC Groningen – and his partner received a barrage of death threats such as “Jump off a cliff” and “I will kill him” after he missed a big chance in the quarter‑final against England. Colombian forward Jáminton Campaz and his family were also targeted with severe death threats after Colombia’s elimination by Switzerland in the round of 16, with the player singled out for a missed extra‑time opportunity.

FIFA highlighted that online hate can have serious consequences for mental health, a point underscored by the timing of the release – the day before the international mental‑health day. The organisation’s ‘social media protection service’ aims to curb such abuse, but the volume of messages recorded shows the challenge remains immense.