It is played all over the world. Football is a common passion shared by millions of people, of every age, religion and ethnic background and has become a real intercultural sport - still the issue of racism troubles football! Racism in football has different forms, whether it is racist chants and insults against an African player, discrimination of players of different ethnic background or the spread of racist and neonazi propaganda in some stadiums.
Expressions and incidents
Racism in football has different expressions, some are easier to spot and recognise than others. The more visible incidents can be:
Physical violence against players of different ethnic background
• In Serbia at the club Borac Cakac, the Borac player Mike Tamvaniere, from Zimbabwe, was not only the target of racist abuse from a group of Borac neonazi fans, but in April 2006 was physically attacked just outside the stadium by Borac fans.
Racist, anti-Semitic or Islamophobic chants or abuse against a certain player or a team
• At the UEFA cup match on March 12th, 2008 between Zenit St. Petersburg and Olympique Marseille, three black players of Marseille were targeted by racist abuse during the match. A part of the Zenit fans threw a banana at them and made 'monkey noises'.
Displaying of fascist, racist or neo-Nazi flags, symbols and propaganda by some of the fans
• In Slovakia, on April 20th, 2007 during a league match between FC Senec and Slovan Bratislava, the visiting fans of Slovan displayed a picture resembling the face of Adolf Hitler along with a banner 'Alles Gute Adi' (Best Wishes Adi), where the letter S was replaced by a Sig rune. This was done on the date of Hitler's birthday. Similar events were repeated this year, in Denmark and Austria.
• During the Euro 2008 qualifying match between Italy and Croatia, the Croatian fans formed a human swastika in their sector.
These incidents get a lot of attention from the public and the media, but mostly they are the work of a small group of supporters that use football matches as forum to express their far-right or neonazi views.
Often these incidents happen with the silent support of the rest of the fans as well as the majority population.
But it is not just the fans who offend, sometimes football personalities or even coaches do so.
For example in Hungary, the former international coach Kalman Meszoly, when asked about African players in Hungary said: 'They have barely come down from the trees'. This goes to show that there are different, sometimes hidden, expressions like the discrimination of minorities and immigrants playing football or being a part of football life in general.
FC Dynamo Kyiv call upon the club's supporters to stand united in the fight against racism and any type of discrimination in football and society.
Kyiv Dynamo for all colours in football!
