Brian McDonald
Three Valencia fans were sentenced to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to racially insulting the Real Madrid striker. Vinícius Junior in the first conviction for cases related to racism in professional football in Spain.
Fans, whose names have not been released, will not be able to enter football stadiums for two years and will have to face all legal proceedings.
They were detained after a Spanish league match between Real Madrid and Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium in May 2023. The match was briefly interrupted after Vinícius was insulted.
This incident generated a wave of support for Vinícius, who is black, and triggered widespread calls for action from Spanish authorities and society at large.
Many saw this as a turning point in the fight against racism in Spanish football, although Vinícius – who was recently called “The best player in the world” by football legend Thierry Henry – continued to be the target of racist abuse several months after the initial uproar that accompanied the incident in Mestalla.
The sentence found the defendants guilty of a crime against moral integrity with the aggravating circumstance of discrimination for racist reasons.
The case was taken to court by the Spanish league, which was joined by the Spanish football federation, Real Madrid and Vinícius.
In March, Vinícius started to cry when talking about the racist insults he was subjected to in Spain, saying he was losing the will to continue playing.
Oscar J. Barroso/AP
“It’s something very sad what I’ve been going through here,” said Vinícius at the time. “It’s difficult. I’ve been fighting this for a long time. It’s exhausting because you feel alone. I’ve made many official complaints, but no one is ever punished.”
Valencia had already banned fans shortly after the incident at their stadium. But no one has ever gone on trial in Spain for racially abusing a player, and many similar cases of abuse, like the one faced by Vinícius, have been dropped by prosecutors in the past.
In January, FIFA President Gianni Infantino advocated the introduction of automatic forfeits for teams whose fans racially abuse opposing players, CBS Sports reported. reported.
Racism has plagued the sport for years. Last year, New York Red Bulls forward Dante Vanzeir was suspended for six games in Major League Soccer for using racist language during a game against the San Jose Earthquakes.
In 2021, three black players were targeted racist abuse after England’s defeat to Italy in the European Championship finals. Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka helped guide the team throughout the tournament but missed penalties in the final match against Italy, sparking a torrent of racist abuse online.
In 2017, midfielder Everton Luiz left the field in tears after persistent racist chants during his team’s victory over Rad in the Serbian league.
In 2014 world Cuptwo Argentine fans were arrested for insulting a black player as a “monkey”.
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