GENEVA (AP) – After months of consultation with Vinicius Junior and other victims, FIFA is calling on all 211 national federations to make racist abuse in soccer mandatory as a breach of discipline.
On Thursday, the soccer world's governing body also issued a statement to referees stating that it is the “world standard gesture for players to communicate racist incidents” (crossing hands at the wrists and raising them in the air), and specifically forfeiting the match. He proposed a severe punishment.
A five-pillar pledge to tackle racism will be presented to FIFA member federations at their annual general meeting in Bangkok on Friday.
A few months ago, FIFA president Gianni Infantino promised to make a global proposal and consulted with Brazilian star Vinicius Junior, who was black and repeatedly abused by Spanish fans while playing for Real Madrid. did.
In a letter to its member federations, FIFA said: “The time has come for the world of football to come together and, as an international community, explicitly address the issue of racism in the game.”
FIFA also wants to create a committee of players to “monitor and advise on the implementation of these measures around the world”.
Football has struggled for more than a decade to address racism in stadiums by agreeing and coordinating on-field responses by match officials and post-match disciplinary action by federations and tournament organizers.
In some cases, investigations have been closed down by football authorities because there was no evidence other than the players' claims of abuse.
Black players themselves have been shown yellow cards for their actions after claiming racial abuse from opponents and fans and attempting to leave the field.
FIFA hopes the gesture of referees joining hands in matches where racist abuse is taking place will be the signal to start a three-step process that has been going on for years: Pause play. stop, broadcast a warning within the stadium, and remove the team from the match. field, then abandon the game.
FIFA said on Thursday that the three-step process should be mandatory for all 211 federations.
This hand-crossing gesture was performed by American athlete Raven Sanders, who won silver in the women's shot put, on the medal podium at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
“This is a crossroads where all oppressed people meet,” Sanders later said.
In response, the International Olympic Committee launched a disciplinary investigation into political comments made at the medal ceremony. The investigation was paused days after Sanders' mother died.
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