ZURICH — FIFA said Friday that once the investigation into the racist harassment of England players in Hungary is concluded, it will take “appropriate steps.”
“Fifa has initiated disciplinary proceedings over the events following a review of the match reports,” the international governing body said, without mentioning racist incidents explicitly.
“FIFA would like to underline that our attitude on racism and violence, as well as any other kind of discrimination or abuse, is clear and resolute,” FIFA stated in a statement. “We have a very clear zero-tolerance policy in football when it comes to such heinous behavior.”
On Twitter, Johnson stated, “It is utterly disgusting that England players were racially insulted in Hungary last night.” “I implore (FIFA) to take severe measures against those guilty in order to ensure that this type of heinous behavior is permanently eliminated from the game.”
England’s players were booed for kneeling, hit with plastic bottles following scores, and then allegedly racist shouts were directed at them.
The game was played in front of a crowd of 60,000 mostly Hungarian fans just two months after UEFA ordered the team to play three games without fans — one of which was suspended for a two-year probationary period — as a punishment for what was described as “discriminatory” behavior by the team’s supporters during all three of its Euro 2020 group games.
Those behind-closed-doors games, on the other hand, must be in UEFA competition. FIFA is in charge of organizing World Cup qualifications.
“For us, the question is why FIFA did not act to avoid this, and why the world football system did not work together to prevent this,” says the author “Burnett went on. “All I’ve heard so far are excuses about who has to complete what paperwork and who needs to file permission.”
The Hungarian Football Association stated it was hunting for the persons who hurled “flash grenades and cups” into the pitch and will report them to the police.
The “vast majority of the 60,000 supporters in the Puskas Arena were there cheering their team in a sportsmanlike manner, even while their side was losing,” according to the report.