Ireland - Kuwait soccer friendly abandoned after "racist remark ...

The Ireland - Kuwait U21 mens' soccer match was abandoned on Monday after an alleged racist remark was made.

"The FAI regrets to announce that today’s U21 international against Kuwait has been abandoned after a racist remark was made by a Kuwaiti player towards one of our substitutes," the Football Association of Ireland said on Monday, June 19.

"The FAI does not tolerate any racism towards any of our players or staff and will be reporting this serious matter to FIFA and UEFA."

Monday's match, which was being played in Bad Radkersburg, Austria, was abandoned during the second half. Ireland was up 3-0 at the time.

FAI noted in its preview that Monday's match was the first meeting between Ireland U21s and a side from the Middle East since a 1-0 win over Bahrain in the Toulon Tournament in 2019.

The FAI does not tolerate any racism towards any of our players or staff and will be reporting this serious matter to FIFA and UEFA.

The alleged racist incident occurred less than a week after FIFA President Gianni Infantino met with Brazil and Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior, the victim of several racism incidents while playing for his club this season.

"It's very important not just to talk about racism and discrimination, but to take action in a decisive and convincing manner - zero tolerance," Infantino said after the meeting in Barcelona, Spain.

"FIFA is together with the Brazilian Football Confederation and with all the players in this fight. It’s important to introduce sporting sanctions and I congratulate CBF for having done so already."

Infantino said that FIFA would set up a task force that will work with FIFA to make specific recommendations, with Vinícius Júnior taking a prominent role. 

The FIFA President went on to say that it was imperative that match officials stop a match when players were subject to abuse.

"There is no football if there is racism! So let’s stop the games," he said.

"The referees have this opportunity in FIFA competitions as we have this process for stopping the game, and actions have to be taken at every level, at national level as well. Everyone has to understand this and we will go, together, until the end."

He added: “It’s a football-related problem and we mustn’t look for excuses like: ‘It’s society’s problem, therefore, it’s fine in football.’ In the world of football, we must act in a very forceful way."

Infantino noted that FIFA had introduced a social media protection service at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 to protect players from hate speech and emphasized that racists had to be identified and charged.

"We want to identify racists in stadiums and across social media," Infantino said. "They are criminals.

"We have to fight against them away from stadiums. They have to be banned from stadiums across the globe.

"The authorities need to take these people to court and we will say this to all of them. Racism is a crime.

"We will also strengthen the engagement with players on this crucial topic so I am glad Vinícius Júnior accepted to be part of a task force which will include other important players and will elaborate concrete and efficient measures to end racism in football once and for all." 

Earlier this year, a number of players on the Republic of Ireland U15 boys team were targeted with racist abuse following their back-to-back 6-0 wins against Latvia.