Italy's Udinese to seek lifetime bans for fans who racially abused keeper Maignan

Police on Monday identified a 46-year-old man as one of those who repeated a racist phrase at the France international.

The spectator has been referred to the public prosecutor's office and the police commissioner has handed him a five-year stadium ban, Udine police said in a statement.

Mike Maignan is racially abused by Udinese fans and his AC Milan team walk off the pitch with him. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Q1ilzQAhUK

"Investigative activities continue in order to identify any further subjects responsible for acts of racial discrimination," they added.

"The possible Daspo stadium ban imposed by the judicial authorities has a limited duration, but we will work to exclude these racists from the stadium for life," Collavino told reporters, as quoted by ANSA.

"There was no chanting, both the referee and the federal prosecutor's office confirmed this to us... even if it was only one, it would still be very serious," he added.

Maignan called for accountability from "the entire system" in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday, including those who abused him, those who saw everything but did nothing, Udinese and the authorities.

Ce n’est pas le joueur qui a été attaqué. C’est l’homme. C’est le père de famille. Ce n’est pas la première fois que ça m’arrive. Et je ne suis pas le premier à qui ça arrive.

On a fait des communiqués, des campagnes de publicité, des protocoles et rien n’a changé.… pic.twitter.com/47tfcW4oNo

Udinese said the club "deeply regrets and condemns every act of racism and violence" in a statement on Sunday, adding they would "collaborate with all investigating authorities to ensure immediate clarification of the incident".

(Reuters)

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