(CNN) — The delantero of Inter de Milan y Bélgica, Romelu Lukaku, said that the main stars of football mundial podrían podrían form a union to address racist abuse in sport.
Speaking exclusively to CNN, Lukaku said authorities are actually not enough to protect players from more racist abuse against Vinícius Jr. during Real Madrid’s match against Valencia in February.
Lukaku, who was racially abused when Inter de Milan played Juventus in April, said he had somehow sorted out the situation at Estadio Mestalla de Valencia from his home and was incredulous his incidents continued to occur with so much frequency.
“Creo que comenzará,” Lukaku told CNN senior analyst of the deportees, Darren Lewis, when he predicted whether the podrían jugadores would form a union.
Lukaku says the idea will be that a large part of the jugadores más destacados del mundo “meet and interact directly with UEFA and FIFA”, as well as with los órganos rectores de la lgas nacionales, sober la best manera de abordar el “problema” current of racism in the game.
“It is really disappointing that it happens because we are in 2023, the world is of different cultures, different religions, different people of color and we still come across the same mistakes all over the time,” said Lukaku.
Vinícius Jr. has faced racial abuse in La Liga on various occasions during the past few hours.
“Eso es lo que me harass porque siempre digo, si queremos que la marca del fútbol sea representative of this manner, también comienza con las personas de arriba [autoridades] que teneren que luchar contra este tipo de cosas.
“Para mi, davvero no sucede lo suficienta, de una manera stricta en la que los followers comen a las gradis y respecta las personas de different colors, personas de different religions, sexualidad, también [hay que atacar] el hate online.
“I create that you also have to attack me because many players online tell them many things that are not pleasant. Entonces digo que los gobiernos también tenen que impezar a envolcrarse en esas cosas, lo que no sucede lo suficiente”.
Lukaku also said “more diversity in puestos de poder” on top of football.
In a press release sent to CNN, FIFA says it has “taken important steps towards greater diversity” since it began reforms in 2016 and said it currently accounts with staff from 100 different countries, 40% of which are women.
FIFA, the ruling body of mundial football, also called on Lukaku to address government concerns and said education in schools was the sixth grade in its five-step plan to address racism in football.
Romelu Lukaku was racially abused when Inter played Juventus in April. (Credit: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images)
FIFA designated the nombremientos de Fatma Samoura from Senegal as general secretary, Martin Ngoga from Rwanda as chairman of the Ethics Committee, Anin Yeboah from Ghana as vice-chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee and Mukul Mugdal from India as chairman of the Governance Committee as “personas muy diversis” en “puestos clave” within the organization.
“Ahí is where it has to start, ahí is where we have to take diversidad,” Lukaku said of the upper levels of the game. “Personas de color, colóquenlas en la parte superior de cada sala de juntas y ahí es when the change will start.
“That’s why, for example, in our Belgian federation, ahí it’s where they come from, they’re dealing with including people of color, of different sexuality and things by style. Therefore, any situation that may occur, whether racial or any form or type of discrimination, can be attacked immediately”.
In 2021, the Belgian Football Federation (RBFA) launched a ‘Come Together’ action plan, focusing in part on tackling discrimination and improving federation representation, including the incorporation of a Junta de Diversidad.
“Creo que así es como debería suceder,” said Lukaku. “A person of different colors is placed in positions of power, I believe that things will be solved much faster than now”.
CNN asked Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, about being protected from gamers on its platforms, but declined to respond at the time of publishing. CNN also communicated with Twitter and UEFA, the governing body for European football.
