Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, made a request for action plans on Thursday at the UEFA Congress to address the growing number of racist incidents in football.
During his statement at the UEFA Congress on Thursday, FIFA President Gianni Infantino reiterated his call for action to stop the rise in racist incidents in sport.
Mike Maignan, the goalie for AC Milan in a match against Udinese last month, had to leave the field because of racist taunts from the home crowd, and Kasey Palmer of Coventry City reported that some Sheffield Wednesday supporters had also been hurling racist taunts at him.
Football has some mechanisms in place, like the three-step process that allows the referee to stop a game twice before abandoning it, as well as disciplinary actions and education, but Infantino reiterated that these are insufficient.
“What I suggest in addition to all this is that we work all together in the next three months before the FIFA Congress in May in Bangkok,” Infantino added.”And at the Congress, all 211 FIFA member nations unite behind a resolute decision to combat racism.
“Let’s stop racism, let’s stop it now, let’s do it all together in a united way.”Discrimination of any kind has no place in the sport or in society at large, according to the chairman of FIFA, the international football association.
“In a statement, he said that the events that occurred on Saturday in Udine and Sheffield are completely unacceptable and disgusting.”
Also endorsing his international colleague was France captain Kylian Mbappe.
“Mike Maignan, you are not alone at all; we are all here for you,” the Paris Saint-Germain player tweeted.
“The issues persist with no resolution in sight. It must end! He wrote on X, “NO TO RACISM.”
In order for future generations to comprehend that this is not a part of football or society, Infantino stated, “We need all the relevant stakeholders to take action, starting with education in schools.”
“We have to implement an automatic forfeit for the team whose fans committed racism and caused the match to be abandoned, in addition to the three-step process (match stopped, match re-stopped, match abandoned). We also have to implement worldwide stadium bans and criminal charges for racists.”
