The stain of racism doesn’t appear to be going away from football anytime soon.
The rise of various far right movements that align themselves with different clubs or national football organisations has meant that UEFA have had to keep a particularly keen eye on the situation.
One of the issues appears to be that some Governments have a problem with discrimination and, to that end, UEFA chief, Aleksander Ceferin, has his work cut out.
“UEFA does a lot but it is never enough,” he said in a new documentary called Outraged: Football Tackles Discrimination, cited by the Daily Mirror.
“We have to do more but we need strong support from the governments.
“We have a problem with some governments because they have a problem with discrimination.”
It’s a problem that isn’t confined to club football either. England players were subjected to vile abuse during a match in Bulgaria, and it’s safe to say that Ceferin was appalled.
“It was a terrible situation in that match,” he added, cited by the Daily Mirror.
“Idiots with their idiotic ideology who use football matches to promote that idiotic ideology.
“We have to do whatever we can to stop it.”
Though it won’t be an easy or quick fix, to do nothing whatsoever to combat racism would effectively make UEFA complicit.
Racism must continue to be called out, and the heaviest possible penalties administered in order to send out the right message.