STRASBOURG, France — When France won soccer’s World Cup in July, millions of fans crowded the streets and cheered as star players like Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappé were honored at the presidential palace. As in 1998, when a similarly multicultural team delivered France’s first world title, commentators quickly hailed the triumph of a “new” and more united France, one that would become more open to diversity, at least in sports.

But Kerfalla Sissoko had more troubling thoughts on his mind.

A month before the World Cup, Sissoko, 25, an amateur soccer player from Guinea, had been brutally attacked after a fight broke out during a league match near the northeastern city of Strasbourg. Sissoko and several black teammates said later that rival players and fans had directed racist insults at them during the game, but the spark of the brawl hardly mattered to him as he ran for his life. Cornered as he tried to leave the field, Sissoko was threatened by rival supporters — including one holding a knife — and beaten by players and fans, who broke his cheekbone.

Then league officials suspended him for 10 games for provoking the melee.

“I was so afraid and so disgusted, that I felt like I would never play soccer again,” Sissoko said.