FIFA BOSS: GET TOUGHER ON RACIST FANS

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has called for an automatic forfeit of games for teams whose fans commit racist abuse after the incidents at Udinese and Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.

AC Milan’s players walked off the pitch after France international goalkeeper Mike Maignan (above) reported hearing monkey noises coming from a section of the crowd at the Stadio Friuli.

And Coventry’s Kasey Palmer

(bottom) said he received similar abuse at Hillsborough and their 2-1 win was stopped for several minutes while match officials spoke to both managers.

Milan’s players eventually returned to secure a 3-2 victory but Infantino

(below) wants harsher punishments.

“As well as the three-step process (match stopped, match stopped again, match abandoned), we have to implement an automatic forfeit for the team whose fans have committed racism and caused the match to be abandoned, as well as worldwide stadium bans and criminal charges for racists,” he said in a FIFA post on X.

“FIFA and football shows full solidarity to victims of racism and any form of discrimination. Once and for all – No to racism! No to any form of discrimination!

“The events that took place in Udine and Sheffield on Saturday are totally abhorrent and completely unacceptable. The players affected by Saturday’s events have my undivided support.

“We need ALL the relevant stakeholders to take action, starting with education in schools, so that future generations understand this is not part of football or society.”

The updated FIFA code implemented in 2019 already states: “Unless there are exceptional circumstances, if a match is abandoned by the referee because of racist and/or discriminatory conduct, the match shall be declared forfeited.”

The match can be forfeited after the ref has applied a “three-step procedure” for such incidents, which includes requesting a public announcement to call for such behaviour to cease, suspending the match until it stops, and in critical scenarios, abandoning it altogether.