Soccer teams may automatically lose games if fans commit racism: FIFA

AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan says too many people are “complicit” in allowing racism to continue blighting soccer, and urged authorities to take stronger action.

AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan says too many people are “complicit” in allowing racism to continue blighting soccer, and urged authorities to take stronger action after he suffered racist abuse on Saturday night.

And FIFA President Gianni Infantino suggested “an automatic forfeit” for any team “whose fans have committed racism.”

Maignan, who is Black, walked off after being abused by Udinese fans during a top-tier Italian league game, prompting the match to be suspended briefly during the first half. Maignan later told DAZN that he had been subjected to monkey noises.

On Sunday, he delivered a strongly worded response.

“It’s not the player who was attacked. It’s the man, it’s the father. It’s not the first time it’s happened to me and I’m not the first person it’s happened to,” Maignan wrote in French on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We’ve had statements, publicity campaigns, protocols and nothing has changed. Today it’s a whole system that must take responsibility.”

Maignan said there still isn’t enough being done to eradicate racial abuse.

“The authorities and the prosecutor, with everything that’s happening, if you don’t act then you will also be complicit,” he wrote.

The 28-year-old Maignan, who is France’s No. 1 goalie, said that those who witnessed the racist incidents should have called out the perpetrators, and that Udinese should have acted more firmly at the time.