00:00Italian football club Juventus banned three fans from rival club Parma on Friday for shouting racist comments at U.S. national team star Weston McKinney after a league match between the teams in August.
00:16McKinney, a Texas native who is black, has played for Juventus in the Italian Serie A league since 2020, and he has heard racist comments from fans several times before during his professional career overseas.
00:29Club officials said they used a state-of-the-art surveillance system with multifocal cameras to help law enforcement identify the three visiting supporters who heckled McKinney as he cooled down after the match.
00:42The incident and the technology used to catch the perpetrators raises questions about how FIFA will combat racist language, gestures, or chants during the 2026 World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico next summer.
00:56After the first few opening matches of the Club World Cup in June, a lack of anti-racism signage led to criticism from fans.
01:05FIFA responded by playing a message on video boards before subsequent games.
01:11Rise up and play your part.
01:13Zeit, farbe zu bekennen.
01:15Faça sua voz, ser ouvida.
01:17Puro futebol, sem racismo.
01:19Yet the issue persists at soccer matches around the world.
01:24FIFA fined six countries on September 3rd, including defending world champion Argentina, for racist abuse by fans at World Cup qualifiers in June.
01:35The six countries, officials said engaged in discrimination and racist abuse were Albania, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Serbia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, according to the FIFA disciplinary committee.
01:49It did not provide details on the cases.
01:52FIFA President Gianni Infantino urged politicians and law enforcement professionals around the world to join the fight against racism and discrimination.
02:01In a message to the Red Card to Racism in Football event in May, he said criminal penalties should be imposed on offenders.
02:09FIFA's global stand against racism called for the football world to take action, to educate, to raise awareness, and, when necessary, to punish.
02:21Racism, discrimination, they are not just wrong.
02:26They are crimes.
02:27As for the incident in Italy, Juventus referred to their fan code of conduct in deciding the punishment for the Parma fans.
02:36The club has previously dealt with similar incidents by visiting supporters following games in 2023 and 2024.
Be the first to comment