La Liga seeks anti-racism powers

La Liga has expressed its “tremendous frustration” at the lack of sanctions and convictions for incidents of racism in Spanish football. Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr has been the target of racist abuse multiple times this season, with the latest incident at Valencia on Sunday receiving widespread condemnation. La Liga has requested “more sanctioning powers” from the Spanish government so it can impose sanctions such as the total or partial closure of stadiums, bans for supporters and financial penalties. Currently, it submits a weekly letter to the RFEF’s – Spanish football’s federation – competition committee and the State Commission against Violence, Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Sport detailing any chants at matches that incite violence or contain insulting content. For insults that could be classified as a hate crime, La Liga also reports them to the Hate Prosecutor’s Office. La Liga has stated that it has “long observed with impotence” these reports being “dismissed without even reaching the courts”. This contrasts with Italy, where last month more than 170 Juventus fans were banned for racially abusing Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku during their Coppa Italia semi-final. On Tuesday, Serie A chief executive Luigi de Siervo said the league was taking a “zero tolerance” approach to racist fans, using technology to help identify offenders. Meanwhile, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti believes Vinicius will stay at the club and in Spain despite the racist abuse he has faced, and condemned the lack of action taken against it. In response to these incidents, the lights on the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro were switched off for an hour in solidarity with Vinicius. La Liga is now requesting more sanctioning powers to take action against racism in Spanish football.