What is the first thing which comes to your mind when you hear the word football? Is it your favorite team? Or the team you dislike? Or your favorite football player? Or the last World Cup winner?
I guess it is probably one of the things I have mentioned above.
What I also guess, is that the word RACISM is not among the words you think off in the first place.
But why should you, right? We live in the
Unfortunately racism in football is real and it is a really huge problem.
Racism in football (soccer) is a real problem.
These number are terrifying and show how big the racism problem is in the UK.
And what about the racism in other TOP European leagues?
The Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku has moved from Manchester United to Inter Milan this summer for 65,00 Mill. €.
3 scored goals in 3 Serie A matches are showing that this season could be a really good one for him and he could finally enjoy the game.
Besides the scored goals he already managed to get the attention of the media with another issue.
Embed from Getty ImagesDuring the Inter Milan match against Cagliari, he became a target of racist abuse. After he scored a penalty in the second half, some Cagliari fans shouted a “monkey” chants towards him.
Lukaku immediately reported this issue and also published a message on his Instagram and Twitter accounts.
#SayNoToRacism pic.twitter.com/Kwl8zFUYKJ
— R.Lukaku Bolingoli9 (@RomeluLukaku9) September 2, 2019
Lukaku is not the first football player racially abused in Cagliari, the Italian Serie A or globally.
Former Juventus striker Moise Kean was subject to racist abuse when he played against the Cagliari last season, as was Blaise Matuidi the year before.
Many football players stood behind Lukaku and confirmed that racism in football is real.
The lack of diversity in football organizations is part of the problem in tackling racism, says former Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany.
When Zenit Petersburg signed Brazilian winger Malcom from Barcelona for 40,00 Mill. € fans appeared to protest against the transfer.
During Zenit’s game against Krasnodar, a group of fans was holding a controversial banner (captured by Sports.ru) which stated: “Thank you leadership for your loyalty to traditions”.
The meaning of the “tradition” is believed to be the absence of a black player at the club.
UEFA is fighting racism almost every day.
UEFA (The Union of European Football Associations) is repeatedly fighting racism across all the countries.
The No To Racism campaign from 2014 was aimed to eliminate racism, discrimination, and intolerance from European football.
Their new campaign called #EqualGame is promoting their vision that everyone should be able to enjoy football, regardless of who they are, where they are from or how they play the game.
Players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Pogba, Piqué, Eniola Aluko or Alexandra Popp teamed up to share their personal and inspiring stories.
Besides the marketing campaigns, the UEFA is fighting racism with disciplinary proceedings as well.
All the reported racial abuses are properly investigated. Once the racism is confirmed the UEFA has the right to punish the clubs with fines, partial stadium closures or matches played behind closed doors.
In the last decade, there were almost 30 disciplinary proceedings confirmed with racism abuse.
Conclusion.
As you see, racism in football (and other sports too) is a real thing. People might not be talking about it on a daily base during a
We at
We should all simply say No To Racism.
And what about you? Have you ever witnessed some kind of racial abuse during a match you have watched? If yes, let us know in a comment below.
Featured image: credit Thomas Serer on Unsplash
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