FIFPro: Vincent Kompany says football meeting rooms are ‘hotbed of inequalities’ in new anti-racist report

[ad_1]

The research center is part of FIFPro’s new plan to “protect, support and defend” players.

With the game relying on companies like Fare Network in Europe and the UK organization Kick it Out to track incidents of racist abuse, FIFPro says the lack of a reliable global database makes the fight effective against racism in football an even more important task.

“This presents two challenges: first, it almost inevitably means that the extent of such discrimination is underestimated, especially when it comes to players’ experience of discriminating against their colleagues and teammates,” we read in a FIFPro report published on Tuesday.

“Such incidents, which may occur out of the public eye, go unreported and unchecked.

“Second, if we don’t understand the magnitude of the current problem, it’s difficult to track and monitor change. Without this, we cannot say for sure whether existing initiatives are effective. We can’t know what’s working and it’s much harder to hold those responsible to account. “

In addition to the union’s financial commitment to the idea of ​​an independent research center, FIFPro would provide legal representation to players who decide to protest, put players in contact with football governing bodies to enable them to participate in the measures anti-racism campaign and would set up a working group on the UEFA three-step protocol.

Introduced in 2019, the protocol’s three-step implementation has been criticized, with arbitrators appearing reluctant to implement it in its entirety.

It allows officials to temporarily stop the match twice in the event of discriminatory chants and to issue a warning via the stadium’s speaker system, before they can abandon the match altogether if it continues a third time.

So far, no game has been abandoned despite several reaching the first or second stage.

FIFPro also wants to provide players with regular opportunities to come together and relay their experiences of racist abuse, as well as provide them with support and help educate football organizations to deal with discrimination.

“A hotbed of inequalities”

As part of the report, a number of former and current professional footballers – Vincent Kompany, Anita Asante, Gaby Garton and Giorgio Chiellini wrote opinion pieces detailing their experiences of discrimination in the sport and how they think it is. should be fought.

Former Manchester City and Belgium defender Vincent Kompany has spoken out regularly to call for change in football authorities and their boards.

Kompany, who was born in Belgium after his father Pierre arrived as a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1975, says that “the diversity that has so benefited the teams I have played in is not reflected in the power structures of football “.

“Football has given me so much,” writes Kompany. “I have seen the world, experienced new things and met amazing people. I have had the chance to play alongside footballers from over 50 different countries and six continents.

“That, and growing up in a multicultural home and neighborhood, taught me to value the experience and perspectives of others. It showed me how powerful it is to learn and share. ideas with people from diverse backgrounds in an inclusive and collaborative environment, and it has shown me that greater diversity leads to better and fairer decision-making.

“Unfortunately, that thought has yet to find its place in football … Take the boards of football clubs. Even a quick glance at the profiles of their members shows that they are still a hotbed of inequality. Football boards and executive rooms remain profoundly unrepresentative of player diversity, with a notable absence of people of color and women. “

[ad_2]