Football has become a sport watched and supported all over the world. The five major European leagues are followed by kids and adults from every corner of the planet. It has become a sport that has been inspiring youth since the last century, yet we stand at a stage where everything the game reflects doesn’t produce positivity.
There have been cases of racism spreading through sports recently. Initially, it was just a single stadium but now it has spread around the football world. One blatant example of this is Vinicius Junior, who has been facing racism no matter where he plays in La Liga. Now, it has started spreading to the world’s top leagues, and in order to mitigate this, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has taken a new initiative.
FIFA president proposes automatic forfeits for racial abuse
After the recent incident in Serie A and the Championship, FIFA president Gianni Infantino came out lashing at racism and suggested automatic forfeits of the match with the team losing whose supporters are involved in racism in addition to them being given a world-wide life-time ban from stadiums.
Fifa President Gianni Infantino expressed his thoughts on this on X. He said that FIFA is totally against the events that happened in Udinese and Sheffield and expressed that racism has no place in the sport.
“The events that took place in Udine and Sheffield on Saturday are totally abhorrent and completely unacceptable. There is no place for racism or any form of discrimination – both in football and in society. The players affected by Saturday’s events have my undivided support.”
He called for actions from every concerned part of the world, starting at the school level, in order to terminate racism in the football world.
“We need ALL the relevant stakeholders to take action, starting with education in schools so that future generations understand that this is not part of football or society.”
He also added about a three-step process involving automatic forfeiture for the team whose fans have committed racism, which every league should follow to punish the perpetrator of the racist abuse.
“As well as the three-step process (match stopped, match re-stopped, match abandoned), we have to implement an automatic forfeit for the team whose fans have committed racism and caused the match to be abandoned as well as worldwide stadium bans and criminal charges for racists.”
These statements came after the recent racial abuse cases in Italy and England. The Udinese vs. AC Milan match saw Mike Maignan get racially abused, and Coventry City midfielder Kasey Palmer accused Sheffield United fans of racial abuse towards him.
Premier League, EFL, and FA refuse Infantino’s automatic forfeits rule
Despite the racist acts rising in recent times and the recent incidents in the English League, they have no plan of heeding the advice of the FIFA president and sources report that the Premier League, FA and EFL have disagreed to include the automatic forfeit rule, as suggested by FIFA president Infantino.
Since domestic competitions have the right to determine their own rules unaffected by the international body, it seems really unlikely that any change to the already established rule of rescheduling matches is going to be implemented until there is total consensus among every body involved in English football.
Even though the chances of any changes in the three-stage protocol seem really bleak, there is a growing possibility of the FA, Premier League and EFL combining up to produce an effective solution against racism, as they have done recently regarding the growing trend for pitch invasions and objects being thrown on the field by the fans.
What do you think will it take to minimize the racial abuse problems in soccer? Make sure to tell us in the comments section.
