Premier League launches investigation after striker Antoine Semenyo was racially abused during season opener

A briefly interrupted match, collective outrage, and the opening of an investigation. The first match of the 2025-2026 season, between Liverpool and Bournemouth on the evening of Friday, August 15, was disrupted by racist insults "coming from the crowd" at Anfield stadium and "targeting Antoine Semenyo," the Cherries striker, the Premier League, the governing body of the English football championship, explained in a statement on the social network X.

In the ^28th minute of the match, with the Reds leading 2-0, referee Anthony Taylor stopped play "temporarily" after being challenged by the Ghanaian international himself. "The decision is in line with the anti-discrimination protocol on the pitch," the Premier League stated in its statement. "In-depth" investigations will now be carried out, it continued. A man in a wheelchair was escorted out of the stadium by three police officers during half-time, reports the British daily The Guardian .

"We offer our full support to the player and both clubs. Racism has no place in our sport, nor in society," the body insisted in its statement. A condemnation shared by Liverpool. The incident "is the subject of a police investigation, which we will fully support," the Merseyside club added in a short text.

In the second half, Antoine Semenyo scored twice for Bournemouth, which didn't prevent his team from losing 4-2 to the defending champions. However, his team sent him a message of support on social media: "A great player, but above all a great man. Only a strong character can show such resilience in such circumstances. We love you and are all with you."

Reds manager Arne Slot, meanwhile, approached the striker at the final whistle to show his support. "It's unacceptable in any stadium, and especially at Anfield ," the Dutchman said at a press conference after the match. " It shouldn't be happening, but unfortunately, we have to talk about it. It should be about Diogo [ Jota, the Liverpool player who died in a road accident in early July ] and the way he was honored. I spoke to Antoine after the match and told him that the club would do everything possible to find the person responsible. (...) It's unacceptable."

"It's a shame that in the first game of the Premier League season, when both teams played a great game, we have to talk about something that is supposed to be a thing of the past, but sadly it's still relevant," added Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola, insisting that his player was deeply affected by the incident: "It's still a big problem. Antoine remained calm in the heat of the moment. We asked him if he could continue and he was calm, but he wonders why this kind of thing is still happening today."

On August 13, after the European Super Cup defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, Tottenham's French striker Mathys Tel was also the target of racist comments on social media. The cause: his missed penalty during the penalty shootout. "Those who insult him are nothing but cowards, hiding behind pseudonyms and anonymous profiles to express their odious opinions ," his club immediately reacted on X, adding: "We will work with the authorities and social media platforms to take the strongest possible action against anyone we can identify."

On August 5, the British anti-discrimination association Kick it Out highlighted that cases of abuse in football remained "very high." "Data compiled from reports from the professional, amateur and social media worlds show an increase in sexism, transphobia and religious abuse, alongside continued high levels of racism, which remains the most reported form of discrimination," it stated at the time.