FIFA’s Infantino Calls for Automatic Forfeits for Teams over Racist Abuse

FIFA’s President Gianni Infantino has called for worldwide stadium bans for fans and “automatic forfeits” for teams whose supporters hurl “abhorrent” abuse, following racist incidents at club matches in Italy and England.

The head of governing body the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) said on Sunday that there was no place for discrimination of any kind in the sport or wider society.

“The events that took place in Udine and Sheffield on Saturday are totally abhorrent and completely unacceptable,” he said in a statement.

“The players affected by Saturday’s events have my undivided support.”

Fans aimed monkey chants at AC Milan and France goalkeeper Mike Maignan during Milan’s dramatic 3-2 win at Udinese, with the game temporarily halted.

In a strongly worded statement on X, formerly Twitter, the France team said: “You have all our support Mike Maignan. The FFF [French Football Federation] totally condemns all racist acts.”

France captain Kylian Mbappe also offered his backing to his international teammate.

“You are very far from being alone Mike Maignan, we are all with you,” wrote the Paris Saint-Germain star.

“Still the same problems and still NO solution. Enough is enough!!!!! NO TO RACISM” he posted on X.

“We need all the relevant stakeholders to take action, starting with education in schools so that future generations understand that this is not part of football or society,” Infantino said.

“As well as the three-step process (match stopped, match re-stopped, match abandoned), we have to implement an automatic forfeit for the team whose fans have committed racism and caused the match to be abandoned as well as worldwide stadium bans and criminal charges for racists.

“FIFA and football shows full solidarity to victims of racism and any form of discrimination. Once and for all: No to racism! No to any form of discrimination!”

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Last week Lazio were hit with a one-match stand closure after supporters directed monkey chants at Romelu Lukaku during their team’s Italian Cup win over local rivals Roma.

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