FIFA President Gianni Infantino has condemned recent racist incidents in football and says ”Racism has no place in football”.
Juventus’ Italian teenage forward Moise Kean recently suffered racist abuse from the stands during Italian Serie A match at Cagliari.
The 19-year-old held his arms aloft after scoring Juve’s second in the 2-0 win, seemingly in response to chants, and was subjected to further abuse.
According to Mr. Gianni Infantino, FIFA stands together with Prince Gouano, Kalidou Koulibaly, Raheem Sterling, Danny Rose, as well as any other player, coach, fan or participant in a football match who have all suffered from racism.
”In recent days, it has been very sad to see a number of racist incidents in football. This is really not acceptable. Racism has no place in football, just as it has no place in society either.” said the FIFA President in a statement, an incident the FIFA boss is not pleased with.
”FIFA stands together with Prince Gouano, Kalidou Koulibaly, Raheem Sterling, Danny Rose, as well as any other player, coach, fan or participant in a football match who has suffered from racism, whether at the highest professional level or in a school playground. Racism needs to end. Full stop.
”We introduced the so-called “three-step procedure” at our tournaments: a mechanism that allows referees to go as far as to abandon a match in case of discriminatory incidents.
”FIFA urges all member associations, leagues, clubs and disciplinary bodies to adopt the same procedure, as well as a zero-tolerance approach to incidents of racism in football, and to apply harsh sanctions for any such kind of behaviour.
The statement concluded ”We will continue to be at the forefront of the fight against racism and we guarantee to all our member associations that they have our full support in taking up this challenge. We will not hesitate to do everything in our power to eradicate racism, and any other form of discrimination, from football, at any level and anywhere in the world.”
