La Liga: Vinicius Junior and other cases of racism in Spanish football

MADRID, May 22 (Reuters) – Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr has called La Liga and Spain racist after receiving racial slurs from the stands during Sunday’s defeat at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium.

Spain is not alone in suffering from racism in its stadium.

Racism has long been a problem in Italian football, where the authorities have also been criticized for not doing enough. In April, 171 Juventus fans were banned from the stadium after shouting racist abuse at Inter Milan forward Romelu Lukaku during the Coppa Italia semi-final earlier that month.

France national team players, including star forward Kylian Mbappe, were racially abused online after they lost the World Cup final to Argentina, and England’s Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka were similarly abused after missing penalties in the Euro 2020 final.

Here are some of the most notable episodes of racism in recent times in Spanish football:

APRIL 2000

Malaga’s Dario Silva was charged with battery after punching an Oviedo fan who allegedly threw a black at the Uruguayan striker after he refused to sign autographs.

NOVEMBER 2004

During a friendly match between Spain and England at the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, England’s Andy Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Jermaine Jenas, Jermain Defoe and Shaun Wright-Phillips were subjected to racist chants from Spanish fans imitating monkey sounds. FIFA fined Spain’s RFEF 100,000 Swiss francs ($112,498.59).

NOVEMBER 2004

Barcelona forward Samuel Eto’o received a yellow card for kicking the ball at Getafe fans after monkey noises from the stands. The Cameroonian went on to celebrate some of his goals this season by making monkey-like gestures while parodying racist chants.

MARCH 2005

Costa Rica striker Paulo Wanchope hit out at an “ultra” fan at his club in Malaga after a small group hurled racial slurs at him and made monkey noises after a match against Real Betis.

APRIL 2005

A banana was thrown at Espanyol goalkeeper Carlos Kamen at Atletico Madrid’s Vicente Calderon stadium.

FEBRUARY 2006

Barca’s Eto’o threatened to walk off the field in protest against racist chants at Real Zaragoza’s La Romareda stadium, but ended up staying put. The club was fined 9,000 euros ($9,907.20).

APRIL 2014

Barcelona defender Dani Alves threw a banana while taking a corner kick at Villarreal’s El Madrigal stadium. Alves peeled the fruit and took a bite. The 26-year-old was later arrested and charged with “violating fundamental rights and civil liberties”, fined €6,000 and banned from football for two years. Villarreal was also fined 12,000 euros.

AUGUST 2016

The match between Sporting Gijon and Athletic Bilbao was temporarily suspended by referee Carlos Clos after an incident of racist chanting at Bilbao striker Inaki Williams. The RFEF competition committee ordered the partial closure of one of the stadium’s stands.

DECEMBER 2019

The second division match between Rayo Vallecano and Albacete was the first to be called off due to offensive chants directed at the players. The left-wing Rayo ultras had called Albacete’s Roman Zozulya – a white Ukrainian striker – a “Nazi”. La Liga supported the referee’s decision, saying it was “against all racism and xenophobia” in football.

JANUARY 2020

Racist chants against Bilbao’s Williams at Espanyol’s Cornella-El Prat stadium sparked the first xenophobic hate crime trial in Spanish football, with only one fan charged. The prosecutors are demanding two years in prison, a fine and a stadium ban for him in the ongoing trial.

APRIL 2021

Valencia’s Mouctar Diakhaby said he was racially abused by rival Juan Cala at the Ramon de Carranza stadium in Cadiz. The entire Valencia team left the field for a few minutes, but later returned without the French defender to avoid a penalty. La Liga later said it had found no evidence that Cala directed racist language at Diakhaby.

JANUARY 2023

Spanish police launched a hate crime investigation after an effigy wearing Vinicius Jr’s No.20 shirt was hung on a bridge outside Real Madrid’s training ground next to Atletico Madrid’s red and white banner reading “Madrid hates Real”.

FEBRUARY 2023

La Liga filed a legal complaint after Vinicius Jr was abused by Real Mallorca supporters. In response, Mallorca removed the fan’s membership card for three years.

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Report by David Latona; Additional reporting by Hritika Sharma; Editing by Andrei Khalip, Aislinn Laing and Christian Radnedge

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