Brazil Football Confederation (CBF) president Ednaldo Rodrigues has expressed his support for Vinícius Júnior after the Real Madrid forward was subjected to racist abuse again in LaLiga.
Images showed a Sevilla fan making a racist gesture towards Vinícius in the 86th minute of Madrid’s 1-1 draw at Sevilla on Saturday.
“It is shocking to see acts of racism against Vinícius Júnior again,” Rodrigues said in a statement published by the CBF.
“Racism is a crime and must always be fought. It is regrettable that we still see actions like this. I am Black and I know the pain he [Vinicius] feels in every racist attitude from fans. I will always show solidarity with the victims of racism. We cannot normalise this. My voice will always be heard to curb such brutal attitudes.”
Brazil international Vinícius, 23, has been repeatedly targeted with racial slurs from opposition supporters. He gave evidence earlier this month in the trial of three Valencia fans accused of racially abusing him during a league game in May.
Vinícius said earlier this year that “racism is normal in LaLiga and that opponents encourage it.”
LaLiga recently unveiled a system to monitor abuse on social media as part of their fight against racism. Last month, Javier Tebas admitted that one of his failings as president of LaLiga was “not detecting earlier certain racism problems that Spanish football has.”
Vinícius, who last year accused LaLiga of not doing enough to stop racism, praised Sevilla for acting quickly following this latest incident. After the match, Sevilla announced that it had identified and handed over to the authorities a fan for practicing racism and xenophobia during the game, a move that was also welcomed by the CBF.
“At least, this time the perpetrator did not leave the stadium unpunished,” Rodrigues said. “Sevilla did the least that a racist attitude deserves. The CBF will continue to pressure all football authorities and those outside the sport so that this heinous crime is punished rigorously The CBF continues to work with FIFA, CONMEBOL and UEFA so that all sports entities in the world act vehemently against racism.
“We are taking effective measures and we will not stop until we expel racists from the stadiums.”
The state of Rio de Janeiro approved in June a new law to help combat racist behaviour at sporting events, in the wake of the abuse suffered by Vinicius in Spain. Commonly known as the “Vini. Jr. law” the measure, the first of its kind in the South American country, dictates for an interruption or even termination of a sports event in which racist act takes place.