"When will it stop": Premier League soccer player Antoine Semenyo addresses racial abuse following on-field incident

On Friday, August 15, 2025, the Premier League soccer player, Antoine Semenyo reported that he was being racially abused by someone in the crowd around the 29th minute of the game, following which an offending fan was quickly identified and removed from the stadium, as per The Guardian.

Antoine then took to his Instagram story to share about the racial abuse he faced online and captioned the story as

''When will it stop"

The Football Association, the Premier League, and both clubs strongly condemned the incident of racial abuse that took place in the stadium and have pledged to support a full investigation.

More about the racial abuse incident Antoine Semenyo faced

Recently, Antoine, the soccer player who plays as a forward for Premier League club Bournemouth, faced shocking racial abuse in the stadium. He told the referee he was being racially abused by someone in the crowd, following which the referee stopped the match and the security officials began looking into the situation.

A man, who is reported to be 47 years old, was then removed from the crowd, as per a report by Sky News. An anti-discrimination message was broadcast at halftime. Semenyo then went on to score twice in the second half of the match.

Chief Inspector Kev Chatterton, the match commander for the Liverpool v. Bournemouth game, said that they will be taking strict action against the hate crime that took place during the match. He said,

''We take incidents like this very seriously, and in cases like this we will be proactively seeking football banning orders, with the club, against those responsible.''

He also said that they do not tolerate racism and added that if anyone notices it, they should immediately report it to the police so they can take prompt action.

VERSUS

@vsrsus

Antoine Semenyo. First game of the season and dropped what could be its most powerful performance. Was subjected to racial abuse in the first half but refused to let that be the story. Don’t underestimate how much strength this took.

The Premier League opener was supposed to be an emotional night, as the Liverpool club and fans were supposed to be paying tribute to Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva, who had tragically died in a car accident in July. However, the night was disrupted by the racial abuse incident.

The Liverpool spokesperson stated the incident, in which he said,

''We condemn racism and discrimination in all forms, it has no place in society, or football. The club is unable to comment further as tonight's alleged is incident is the subject of an ongoing police investigation, which we will support fully.''

Adam Smith, Bournemouth’s captain, was also asked about the racial abuse aimed at his teammate, Antoine, to which he replied, saying, as per Sky Sports, that he condemns the racial abuse and that such behavior has no place in football or anywhere. He then praised Antoine and said that despite what he faced on the ground, he kept his focus intact and went on to score remarkably for his team.

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Liverpool, however, won that match, with a 4–2 victory over Bournemouth.

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