We can reduce racism to ‘zero’ in six months, claims La Liga chief
Racism in the Spanish top tier can be reduced to “zero” in six months, according to La Liga’s outspoken president in a plea for extra powers.
Javier Tebas will be making representations to his government today as he scrambles to patch up the competition’s reputation after a damaging week.
Racism has been rife in Spanish football for decades, but a row around failures to tackle the issue has been reignited by the furore surrounding Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior. The Brazilian had hit out at key figures, including Tebas, after he was abused at Valencia.
Spain is a racist country because of “continuous episodes across several cities”, Vinicius has said, as his club filed a hate crime complaint with the Spanish state attorney general’s office.
Vinicius’s comments initially prompted a tetchy response on social media from Tebas, for which he subsequently apologised.
In a specially arranged press conference, Tebas said he could rapidly eliminate discrimination. “What we want is the power to do more things,” he said. “We are going along the legal route and I think in six months’ time this will be at zero and we will be the best league in the world. The competencies we want are for those intolerable behaviours – racism, homophobia.”
Vinicius has been the target of racist abuse a number of times this season and the latest incident prompted widespread support from the footballing world.
La Liga is requesting that two laws are amended to give it authority to impose sanctions, such as the total or partial closure of stadiums, bans for supporters and financial penalties.