May 27, (THEWILL) – Valencia’s punishment for the racist abuse directed at Real Madrid forward, Vinicius Junior, by fans during their recent clash, has been amended, according to the Spanish Football Federation appeals committee.
The committee has decided to “partially uphold” Valencia’s appeal, resulting in a reduction of the club’s penalties. Initially, Valencia faced a five-match partial closure of the Mestalla Stadium and a €45,000 fine. However, the closure has now been reduced to three matches, and the fine has been cut to €27,000.
THEWILL recalls that the incident involved racist abuse, including monkey chants, which led to Vinicius considering leaving the pitch. Real Madrid responded swiftly to the incident by filing a complaint with the Spanish State Attorney General’s Office, characterising it as a “hate crime.” Valencia took advantage of the 10-day window to appeal the punishment to the appeals committee, and their appeal was successful.
The incident has generated widespread condemnation and calls for stronger action against racism in Spanish football. Ahead of Tuesday night’s matches, players and officials from various La Liga teams, including Real Valladolid, Barcelona, Celta Vigo, and Girona, stood united behind banners with the message “Racism, out of football.”
La Liga has expressed its frustration with the current lack of jurisdiction to punish clubs whose fans engage in racist abuse, feeling “powerless” as they can only identify and report incidents without frequently imposing sanctions.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
