FIFA calls for zero-tolerance towards racism

A picture shows the FIFA logo during a press conference held by the president of the football’s governing body at the FIFA Executive Football Summit on February 15, 2019 in Istanbul. (Photo by OZAN KOSE / AFP)

Football’s world governing body FIFA has called on the game’s authorities around the world to implement a “zero-tolerance” policy against racism.

In a letter seen by AFP, FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura pressed for everyone associated with the game to adopt the organization’s three-point procedure.

“FIFA now urges all member associations, leagues, clubs and disciplinary bodies to introduce the three-step procedure in their domestic competitions, to pursue a zero-tolerance policy towards racist and discriminatory incidents in football, and to severely punish such behavior,” Samoura wrote in the letter.

The first step of the procedure, which FIFA introduced into its competitions at the 2017 Confederations Cup, involves the referee stopping a match to request a public announcement to call for any racist behavior to cease.

That will be followed by the referee suspending the match until it stops, and finally, abandoning the match altogether.

FIFA said earlier in July that it wanted teams to forfeit matches if their supporters were deemed to be guilty of racist behavior.

A report released by campaign group Kick It Out on Wednesday said reported incidents of racist abuse in English football rose by 43 percent in the 2018/19 season.

A number of incidents of racist abuse tarnished matches across Europe last season.

Montenegro fans marred England’s Euro 2020 qualifier by abusing Danny Rose, Raheem Sterling and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Manchester City winger Sterling was also the victim of alleged racist abuse in a match at Chelsea and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had a banana skin thrown at him by a Tottenham fan.