FIFA Boss Infantino Suggests Forfeits for Racist Abuse

Facts

• Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Pres. Gianni Infantino has called for an automatic forfeit for soccer teams whose supporters commit acts of racism, as well as worldwide stadium bans and criminal charges for those who engage in racist acts or verbiage.¹
• Infantino's statement came after two incidents of alleged racist abuse were reported Saturday — one in Italy's top-flight Serie A and another in England's [second-tier] Championship.²
• AC Milan players walked off the field at Udinese, suspending the game for around 10 minutes because of racial chants targeting Mike Maignan. One fan was handed a nationwide five-year stadium ban, with Udinese banning him for life from its stadium.³
• Meanwhile, Coventry City's Kasey Palmer received similar abuse from home fans at Sheffield on Wednesday, prompting that match also to be stopped for several minutes. South Yorkshire police have launched an investigation into the incident to 'understand the circumstances and identify those involved.'⁴
• Infantino's proposed automatic forfeit would come in addition to the three-step protocol — match stopped, match re-stopped, match abandoned — FIFA first implemented in its competitions in 2017, with its member associations following suit in the subsequent years.⁵
• Under the laws of soccer as defined by the International Football Association Board, an abandoned game is replayed unless the competition rules or organizers determine otherwise. This means that any reform to the three-stage system and the approach to abandonments would need to be agreed to locally.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²Daily Mail, ³Sky News, ⁴BBC News, ⁵The Athletic and ⁶Guardian.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Goal.com. As the abhorrent scenes in Sheffield and Udine over the weekend have further stressed, incidents of racial abuse will keep repeatedly happening in stadiums unless meaningful actions are taken. Infantino has finally called for a real punishment to be meted out to racists, so it's time to take action.
• Narrative B, as provided by ESPN.com. Though it's great Infantino has put a spotlight on the racism issue, his solutions may not be enforceable because FIFA has jurisdiction only over its own competitions. Stadium bans and criminal charges depend on each country's laws. Making a team automatically forfeit a game under these circumstances is an idea that would certainly backfire.