Soccer-Spanish football admits racism problem after Vinicius incident

MADRID: Spanish soccer has a racism problem, its football federation chief Luis Rubiales said on Monday, echoing criticism by Brazil after Real Madrid lodged a race crime complaint following insults hurled at their Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr. The top-flight La Liga is under pressure to do more to combat racism after the Brazilian president, FIFA and fellow sporting stars such as France forward Kylian Mbappe, Rio Ferdinand and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton voiced support for Vinicius. In a social media post, Vinicius Jr.

called racist abuse “inhuman” and asked sponsors and broadcasters to hold LaLiga accountable. “What is missing to criminalize these people? And punish the clubs sportively? Why don’t the sponsors charge LaLiga? Don’t the televisions bother to broadcast this barbarity every weekend?,” Vinicius said. The statement came a day after the match against Valencia at the Mestalla stadium was stopped for 10 minutes after the 22-year-old Brazilian striker pointed out fans who were allegedly hurling racist comments at him.

“The problem is very serious, and press releases don’t work anymore. Neither does blaming me to justify criminal acts,” he added. Vinicius, Real Madrid’s second top scorer this season in all competitions (23), behind Karim Benzema (29), had previously described Spain as a “country of racists” after the match against Valencia on Sunday.