European soccer has a distasteful history of racism from inappropriate comments by high-profile officials, to public displays by fans, to on-field altercations between players.  Perhaps more glaring than the incidents themselves is how they no longer seem shocking.  A front page featuring prejudiced quotes and incidents of discriminatory behavior seem an inevitability every season.

The most recent allegations of racism making headlines across Europe have been directed at former Italian national team manager Arrigo Sacchi, who was quoted as saying that there are too many black players at the youth level of Italian soccer.  He went on to suggest that, because of the amount of foreign born or first-generation players, Italian soccer is losing its dignity and pride. His full quote, from Gazzetta Dello Sport is as follows:

“I’m certainly not racist and my history as a coach demonstrates that … But look at the Viareggia [youth cup] tournament I would say that there are too many black players. Italy has no dignity, no pride. It should not be possible that our teams should have 15 foreign players in the squad.”

Yes, he decided to go with the “I’m not racist but…” before making an inarguably racist remark about how the inclusion of Italian players of color render youth teams undignified.  He even went on make the feeble “I have a black friend” argument, pointing out that well-known Dutchman Frank Rijkaard was signed by and played for him at AC Milan.  Still, for Sacchi you will never be truly Italian unless you look like he does.  Players of African origin, therefore, obviously don’t fit the bill.

Despite the public denouncement of and outrage at the former Italy and AC Milan manager’s comments, some have come forward to defend them.  Fabio Capello, former England and current Russia national team manager, dismissed any allegations of racism, stressing that Sacchi’s words were not racist, but rather nationalistic and unelaborated.  Capello willingly explained – or rather, reiterated – what Sacchi was getting at with his apparently misunderstood comments:

“What he said is not racism.  We just need to have more Italian players in our youth academies, [players] with an Italian identity.  We also have black players who are Italian but he was referring to the youth teams that have eight or nine foreign players in them.”

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re aware that Liverpool striker and Italian national team forward Mario Balotelli is black and is Italian and has been featuring for the Azzurri for years.  Let’s not forget Angelo Obganna and Stefano Okaka, both of whom also featured for the Italian national team.  Surely Capello doesn’t doubt Super Mario’s Italian identity?  Or.. perhaps he does.  The legitimacy of such an argument seems to rather thinly veil the fact that both Sacchi and Capello, while using the rhetoric of pureblood nationalism, are expressing sentiments that appear to most as quite obviously racist.  To make matters worse, Capello has himself come under fire for allegedly making homophobic comments in the same interview he gave backing Sacchi.

It’s not without reason to assume that both Sacchi and Capello are legitimately motivated by nationalist sentiment.  It’s equally within reason to assume that said sentiment is blinding them to the reality of the prejudice behind their comments.  But do ultra-nationalist sentiment and racism not often go hand in hand?  One is arguably a product of the other.  Ultra-nationalism can give way to xenophobia, and such a state of mind has been the call to arms for many violent supporters groups across Europe.

In Russia, for example, xenophobic violence has been a staple over the past two decades, culminating in December 2010 when thousands of soccer fans and other demonstrators fought with police outside of the Kremlin.  The violent demonstrations were fueled by anti-immigrant nationalists yelling “Russia for Russians!”, donning scarves and waving flags.  Russia is also well known for incidents of fan violence and discrimination in its soccer leagues, which only adds to the theory of rabid nationalist fervor correlating to racism in European football.

In Serbia, soccer riots and violence have long been commonplace and are most often motivated by nationalist and anti-minority and anti-immigrant sentiment.  In October 2010, hooligans stopped a EURO 2012 qualifier between Italy and Serbia in Genoa with violent displays of ultra-nationalism and general barbarity.  A day later, many of those same ultras participated in violent demonstrations and riots in Belgrade, motivated primarily by an angry response to a Gay Pride parade and bitter, anti-immigrant, nationalist sentiment.  The connection between hooliganism by soccer supporters and violent ultra-nationalist demonstrations was so bad that the Serbian sports minister and justice ministry officials were working together to combat it.  In December 2012, racist demonstrations and fan abuse during Serbia and England U-21s’ match saw England’s Danny Rose respond to monkey chants from Serbian fans by kicking a ball into the stands.  He was sent off.  UEFA’s response was to uphold Rose’s ban, to ban two members of the Serbian U-21 coaching staff for two years, to hand out suspensions to two Serbian players, impose a stadium ban on Serbian fans and to hand out a £65,000 fine to the Serbian FA.  Not necessarily the most convincing stance against one of the most persistent and widespread issues in the world’s game.

In Italy, racism and far-right leaning supporters groups have gone hand in hand for far too long.  As World Soccer Talk columnist Simon Evans rightly points out, Italian soccer has been on the decline for some time.  A major reason is that the image of the league – long renowned for sophistication and the quality of play – has more recently been one of wanton displays of intolerance.  Both Mario Balotelli and his younger brother (who plays his soccer for Brescia) have been racially abused.  Kevin Prince Boateng, when playing for AC Milan, walked off the field in protest of racist taunts by opposition fans.  Balotelli, Obganna and Okaka were unable to feature for their country of birth until their 18th birthdays because, until that date, they were denied full citizenship as Italians.  These uncomfortable realities point to deep-seated cultural beliefs.  Sadly, soccer is all too often the arena in which social intolerance seems to spill over in the form of violent demonstration and unsavory public discrimination.

This week in France, Chelsea supporters were filmed racially abusing a black Parisian and refusing to let him enter the train car they were in.  The English fans were filmed singing “We’re racist and we like it,” while preventing the man from entering, eliminating the possibility of this being motivated by a simple sports rivalry.  Sadly, it would be naive to assume that this is an isolated incident.  In February of 2012, a Manchester United fan was fined and banned for shouting racist abuse at Stoke City’s Kenwyne Jones.  A month later, an Arsenal fan was arrested over racist abuse of Newcastle midfielder Cheick Tiote.  In September of 2014, police were investigating the racial abuse on Twitter of Mario Balotelli.

Fortunately, domestic soccer associations exist to oversee all soccer leagues in respective European countries and are tasked with monitoring and eradicating such disgraceful displays.  Unfortunately, many of these associations seem powerless to combat the ultra-nationalism and racism plaguing so many leagues in Europe.  Some of them staff and employ people, in high-ranking positions, with the same pernicious beliefs.  In Italy, in August 2014, while campaigning to be the head of the Italian Football Association, Carlo Tavecchio made racist remarks about a fictional African player who he named ‘Opti Poba:’

“In England, they identify the players coming in and, if they are professional, they are allowed to play. Here instead we get ‘Opti Poba,’ who previously ate bananas and then suddenly becomes a first-team player with Lazio.”

Outrageously enough – or typically, depending on your stance – the Italian FA cleared Tavecchio of all charges of racism.  Tavecchio also won the election earning 63% of a possible 274 votes.  There may not be a better indication of the harsh realities of ingrained racism in Italian soccer.  FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, decided to ban Tavecchio from any involvement with Italian soccer for six months.  A whopping six months.

Despite FIFA’s strict stance on discrimination, their punishments have rarely been adequate.  As per FIFA’s website on anti-racism and social responsibility:

“The FIFA Disciplinary Code, which describes the sanctions incurred as a result of violations of the FIFA Statutes, applies to every match and competition organized by FIFA. Furthermore, the Disciplinary Code must be obeyed by all the associations and their respective members, including clubs, officials, players, match officials as well as any other persons FIFA admits to a match or competition, including spectators.”

The sanctions accompanying the penalty for breaking FIFA’s substantive law vary from fines, to bans for individual players, to bans of team representatives or to bans on playing in certain stadiums – and the list goes on.  Fines are not to be in excess of $1,000,000 but you’d have to search pretty hard to find an instance in which a high-ranking public official has been handed a lengthy or permanent ban, or faced the penalty of a substantial fine.  All too often, FIFA drops the ball when they could be making an appropriately strong statement by punishing severely those who perpetuate and endorse these cancerous prejudices.

UEFA has also come under fire on several occasions for failing to impose the necessary sanctions to properly stamp out and curtail such behavior.  In the case of the Serbian and English U-21 match, both former FA chief David Bernstein and Piara Powar, the director of UEFA’s anti-racism partner (Fare) stated their disappointment in UEFA’s lack of “totality.”  Said Powar:

“The original offenses warranted a more severe collective punishment than a ban on spectators for one match. This is a moment in which leadership to challenge discrimination is needed from all authorities. This sanction falls short of that objective.”

Until UEFA and, more importantly, FIFA, hold offenders to a more strict standard, it is unlikely that perpetuators of racist, prejudiced, discriminatory behavior will cease to mar the beautiful game with their antics.  Furthermore, there are perhaps more historic and strong-rooted cultural beliefs at work which demand attention by those in power politically to really make the necessary changes.  This week Champions and Europa League soccer tournaments took center stage, with millions around the world tuning in to watch.  Recognizing how powerful an influence soccer in Europe can have worldwide, FIFA and UEFA have a social responsibility to defend the integrity of the sport for all who play it.  With a Russian World Cup a mere three years away, let’s hope this is something they decide to take very seriously.