FIFA president Gianni Infantino has offered his ‘full solidarity’ to Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior, who was the victim of yet more racist abuse during his team’s La Liga clash with Valencia.
Vinicius has already been subjected to racist abuse on multiple occasions in La Liga this season and on Sunday night called out the competition that he claims now ‘belongs to racists’.
“It wasn’t the first time, nor the second, nor the third. Racism is normal in La Liga,” he said.
“The competition thinks it’s normal, the Federation does too and the opponents encourage it. I’m so sorry. The championship that once belonged to Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano [Ronaldo] and [Lionel] Messi today belongs to racists. A beautiful nation, which welcomed me and which I love, but which agreed to export the image of a racist country to the world. I’m sorry for the Spaniards who don’t agree, but today, in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists.”
In offering his support to Vinicius Junior, Gianni Infantino condemned the racist abuse and took the opportunity to promote FIFA’s three-step response to incidents of racism during games that he called to be implemented in all leagues around the world.
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“Full solidarity to Vinicius,” he said. “There is no place for racism in football or in society and FIFA stands by all players who have found themselves in such a situation. Events during the match between Valencia and Real Madrid show that this needs to be the case.
“That is why the three-step process exists in FIFA competitions and it is recommended at all levels of football. Firstly, you stop the match, you announce it. Secondly, the players leave the pitch and the speaker announces that if the attacks continue, the match will be suspended. The match restarts, and then, thirdly, if the attacks continue, the match will stop and the three points will go to the opponent.
“These are the rules that should be implemented in all countries and in all leagues. Clearly, this is easier said than done, but we need to do it and we need to support it through education.”
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