‘Racists are idiots’ – UEFA boss

By Paul Nyakazeya and Freedom Mashava

UNION of European Football Associations (UEFA) president Aleksander Ceferin has hit out at people who practice racism in the world’s most popular sport, saying they are “idiots” who are aggravating a societal problem.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin with COSAFA president Philip Chiyangwa in Harare on Monday. Pic by Freedom Mashava

Ceferin, who spoke to The Financial Gazette after paying a courtesy call on Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo and Sports minister Kirsty Coventry on Monday, said UEFA was not blind to the scourge of racism.
But he noted that UEFA required everyone’s support to end the problem.
“Football has always been a reflection of positive and negative stuff happening in society, and sometimes these idiots who are racists use football events to promote their idiotic ideologies,” said Ceferin.
Ceferin, who left Zimbabwe on Tuesday and was in country with his family on a 10-day vacation, said he had met government officials from many countries concerning the issue.
“We (UEFA) cannot do it ourselves, I said it many times to governments in Europe and governments everywhere (that) we will work with the police and tell them to put these idiots who have been found guilty in prison. We need the help of everyone in society and we will fight it (racism) tough and they will behave themselves,” he said.
Ceferin, who was elected UEFA president in September 2016, having been the president of Slovenia’s Football Association for five years, said racism was a matter his organisation took very serious and that more needed to be done to bring “the idiots” to book in 2020.
European football has been marred by a string of ugly episodes in past three months, from racial monkey chants and gestures, as well as abuse and controversial headlines.
Recently, Inter Millan striker Romelu Lukaku, Brescia’s Mario Balotelli and Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Taison from Brazil have all been subjected to monkey chants while England’s Euro 2020 qualifier away in Bulgaria was stopped on two occasions due to excessive abuse towards England’s black players like Raheem Sterling and Tyrone Mings.
A headline in the tabloid newspaper Corriere dello Sport in Italy seemed to add wood to the veld fire after these incidents when one morning it screamed “Black Friday,” in capital letters, between photos of Roma defender Chris Smalling and Lukaku.
It was meant to preview Friday’s Serie A match between the two former Manchester United teammates. Instead, it ripped open fresh wounds.
Italian soccer has long been sullied by vile racism.
Last Sunday Balotelli criticised Lazio fans after offensive chants towards him caused play to be briefly stopped.
On Monday Lazio released a statement that said: “As always Lazio dissociates in the most taxing way from the discriminatory behaviour carried out by a very small minority of fans during the match against Brescia. The club once again reiterates its condemnation of such unjustified misconduct and confirms its intent to prosecute those who in fact betray their sporting passion, causing serious damage to the image of the club.”

Ceferin said he had discussed a number issues with Council of Southern Africa Football (Cosafa) president Philip Chiyangwa on how UEFA can play a role in developing soccer in Africa and other parts of the world.
“As you know, the champions league is the biggest sporting tournament in world. We have many African players playing in the tournament and we owe something in a way not just to Africa, we have discussed with the Cosafa president (Chiyangwa) and would want to help in different ways to develop the sport,” he said.
Last month, Ceferin said he believed politicians were in part to blame for stoking racism across the continent and was particularly critical of England Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who himself had criticised UEFA for their sanctions against Bulgaria for racially abusing England players.
He said there were times, not long ago, when the football family thought that the scourge of racism was a distant memory. However, the last four months have taught many that such thinking was, at best, complacent.

In a statement last year, Ceferin said the rise of nationalism across the continent had fuelled some unacceptable behaviour and some misguided people have taken it upon themselves to think that a football crowd was the right place to give voice to their appalling views.
“As a governing body, I know we are not going to win any popularity contests. But some of the views expressed about UEFA’s approach to fighting racism have been a long way off the mark. UEFA, in close cooperation with the Football Against Racism Europe network, instituted the three-stage protocol for identifying and tackling racist behaviour during games,” he said.
He said UEFA’s sanctions were among the toughest in sport for clubs and associations whose supporters were racist at matches.

“The minimum sanction is a partial closure of the stadium, a move which costs the hosts at least hundreds of thousands in lost revenue and attaches a stigma to their supporters.
“UEFA is the only football body to ban a player for 10 matches for racist behaviour, the most severe punishment level in the game. Believe me, UEFA is committed to doing everything it can to eliminate this disease from football. We cannot afford to be content with this; we must always strive to strengthen our resolve.”
“More broadly, the football family — everyone from administrators to players, coaches and fans — needs to work with governments and NGOs to wage war on the racists and to marginalise their abhorrent views to the fringes of society.
“Football associations themselves cannot solve this problem. Governments too need to do more in this area. Only by working together in the name of decency and honour will we make progress,” Ceferin said.