A group of experts from the Institute for Control Coordinates and Applied Economics (ICGEA) held analysis of racist actions after the Vinicius case, in football stadiums, which means that Spanish football is “the least affected by racism”. among the top European leagues.

The organization explains that the latest developments in Spanish football have “ignited a debate about racism, but is Spain a racist country because of the actions of some citizens in football stadiums? These actions occur only in football, in sports in general? Or is it a social problem? These are some of the questions that have been dominating the media in recent days in European countries and outside of our community,” and which the Coordinates Institute intends to answer.

After evaluating racist acts in sports, the panel of experts concludes that the problem is not in a particular country and not exclusively in sports, “it is a pathology rooted in society. For more than a century, sport has been a place of systematic use of verbal violence not only by racists, but also by groups of citizens who use their presence in stadiums to express all sorts of insults and insults against athletes, refereeing teams. and fans of the opposing team.

“Society has tolerated acts of discrimination or xenophobia for many years. at sports venues that are socially accepted with greater tolerance in these areas and aimed at the athlete than if they took place in other settings,” said Jesús Sánchez Lambas, Executive Vice President of the Coordinating Institute.

States that “far from a problem in SpainIt’s a scourge that also affects other major European leagues to a greater extent.” The Institute of Coordinates shows that in the case of Italy, this is one of the biggest problems that the sports organizations of this country have faced in recent decades. “Recently, we were struck by the action of Lazio fans flooding the Roma curve with Anne Frank stickers, and although in Italy it was a scandal of the same magnitude as what happened in Spain in recent days with the Vinicius case, mobilizing society to re-accused of these actions, after a few weeks, racist and anti-Semitic acts in Italian sports returned to the fore, ”he adds.

These analysts say that, “as in other countries, discrimination against athletes of other races in Italy goes beyond football, influencing many sports that are highly successful in the country. Players like Dalbert Enrique, Samuel Umtiti, the Lameck Band or the famous case of Romelu Lukaku have been discriminated against game after game by rival fans or, more worryingly, by their own fans, just as they have suffered. Donnarumma, Balotelli or Moise Keenwho was insulted not only by his compatriots, but also by teammates, and his coach as provocative and guilty of insults received by blaming him for refusing to play when he had to hear repeated and repeated insults from the stands because of his skin color. Other Italian athletes were also attacked, such as volleyball player Paola Egono, one of the European stars of this sport, who refused to wear the national shirt again due to insults received from the Italians themselves for protecting the colors of their team. leaving his participation in the 2024 Olympics in suspense.”

As for the English Premier League, this indicates that it is one of those most affected by this “pathology”, with the progression of cases of racism in its stadiums. There were over 150 football-related racist incidents in the 2019/20 season, more than 50% more than the previous season and more than double the number of the previous three seasons. The behavior of its fans and citizens is equal to or even considered more burdensome than the behavior of fans and citizens of other European countries, especially compared to Spain.

A clear example, in addition to what we see every day in stadiums or even with the athletes themselves, we were able to observe at the Eurocup 2020, held in England, where the English team lost to the Italian team and the anger of the English fans. fell on colored English players, or on the occasion when some Burnley fans, in view of the support of the Prime Minister and his players for the Black Lives Matter movement, hired a plane to display the White Lives Matter poster of Burnley during the team’s match against Manchester. City.”

“And this,” they add, “despite the fact that the premier has a long-term advantage in measures to mitigate the problem of racism in football. Since the 1970s, with the massive arrival of foreigners in this sport, social and sports organizations have been campaigning to alleviate the racial problem in sports. All these years of work give him a great advantage over his European neighbors, but this effort has not penetrated the behavior of the English society, which year after year accumulates an increasing number of racist and xenophobic scandals in football stadiums.

They say that “as the English Minister of Industry herself admitted, sport is a reflection of society and Spain, in comparison with other neighboring countries, accepted the arrival of immigrants later than countries like Italy or England, and therefore the problem of racism in sports also appeared later. However, Spain is one of the European countries that has recorded the least racist acts in recent years and the Spanish La Liga has been making great efforts to prevent them for many years.”

They explain that the RFEF “has sanctioning power in this matter, although La Liga has already requested that it be granted the ability to impose sanctions, which it currently does not have. A statement they backed from England, published these days by the British newspaper The Times, saying that “the government would do the right thing by giving La Liga this power if necessary to remove racism from the game.” Spain is preparing, together with Portugal and Morocco, to bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup. It is absolutely inconceivable that Spain could be selected to play in the tournament unless and until they take decisive steps to eradicate racism from the domestic game.”

“As the employer of Spanish football, La Liga is fully committed to eradicating these racist practices in Spanish football, investigating and condemning all of them before the competent authorities and courts. In relation to the actions against Vinicius Jr. alone, La Liga filed nine complaints to the prosecutor’s office and courts of inquiry against actions against him for possible hate crimes, which in Spain are punishable by prison. Some complaints that have already led to the first arrests,” he adds.

A group of analysts from the Instituto Coordenadas concluded that There is no racism problem in Spanish football differs from other European leagues, but in smaller proportions, “if you count the cases that occurred according to certain scenarios, both inside and outside the stadiums.”