New Zealand FA urges Fifa to do more after walk-off against Qatar over alleged racism

New Zealand Football (NZF) said it would contact Fifa about protecting players from racism after the men’s national team abandoned a friendly against Qatar at half-time in protest at an alleged racist slur against one of their players.

New Zealand said a Qatari opponent directed a “significant racist slur” at Michael Boxall, who has Samoan heritage, shortly before the interval. The team said they reported the incident and collectively decided not to take the field after half-time because no official action was taken.

It was one of two matches abandoned in Austria on Monday after allegations of racism. Ireland’s football association said its Under-21 team had abandoned their game against Kuwait’s Olympic side after a Kuwait player used racist language toward an Ireland substitute.

The NZF’s chief executive, Andrew Pragnell, said: “Certainly we want to reach out to Fifa on this. You know they have recently established a task force around racism; more needs to be done to protect players from racial attacks on the field. There’s been some evolution; we don’t think it’s moving fast enough so we want to contribute to that.”

Qatar’s coach, Carlos Queiroz, said his squad stood by their teammate and the incident was a matter for the football authorities. “Apparently two players exchanged words, and we don’t know who was first, who was second; it’s only between them,” he told Alkass Sports Channels. “The New Zealand players decided to support their teammate and we also decided to support our player.”

Video of the New Zealand friendly showed multiple All Whites players remonstrating with a Qatar player shortly after a free-kick was awarded. After a long discussion with New Zealand’s captain, Joe Bell, the referee, Manuel