Football: Infantino condemns racism “odious” during matches in Italy and England

The president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, called for a stadium ban for supporters and “automatic package” for teams whose supporters utter insults “odious” following the racist incidents that occurred on Saturday in Italy and England.

The president of world football's governing body says there is no room for discrimination, whoever she is, in football or in society in general.

“The events that took place in Udine and Sheffield on Saturday are completely abhorrent and unacceptable”, he said in a press release.

“The players affected by Saturday's events have my full support”.

Supporters launched monkey chants at AC Milan and France goalkeeper, Mike Maignan, during the spectacular victory 3-2 from Milan south Udinese, and the match was temporarily interrupted.

The Coventry midfielder, Kasey Palmer, accused Sheffield Wednesday fans of doing the same to him during the English Championship match, that his team won 2-1.

“We need all stakeholders to take action, starting with education in schools so that future generations understand that this is not part of football or society”, said M.. Infantino.

“In addition to the three-step procedure (match stopped, match stopped again, match abandoned), we must implement an automatic forfeit for the team whose supporters committed acts of racism and caused the abandonment of the match, as well as worldwide stadium bans and criminal prosecutions for racists.

“FIFA and football show total solidarity with victims of racism and all forms of discrimination. Once for all : No to racism ! No to any form of discrimination !”

At Udinese, referee Fabio Maresca interrupted play during the first half and a furious Maignan left the tunnel with his teammates.

“They are ignorant, people…. We can be booed or whistled when we are outside, it's normal, but what happened today has no place in football”, Maignan told Sky Sports.

The game resumed after about five minutes.

Last week, Lazio were ordered to close a stand for a match after fans launched monkey chants at Romelu Lukaku during their team's Italian Cup win over local rivals, the Rome.

In Sheffield, Palmer called the insults”odious and totally unacceptable”, and the match was interrupted while the referee spoke with the two managers on the touchline.

In a press release, Sheffield Wednesday s’est dit “shocked and saddened by the racist gesture from the stands reported by Sky Blues player Kasey Palmer”.

“Both clubs strongly condemn any form of discrimination and abuse, and emphasize that this type of behavior has no place in football or in society in general”, adds the press release.

“We will work with the relevant authorities and anyone proven guilty will face the strictest possible sanctions from Sheffield Wednesday and the courts..