Players Abandon Champions League Game After Racist Language From Referee

Soccer players in the Champions League have demonstrated their commitment to fighting racism is more than just talk, unanimously abandoning a Paris match after a referee used racist language.

Fourteen minutes into Paris Saint-Germain's home match Tuesday at Parc des Princes, Romanian official Sebastian Coltescue addressed Istanbul Basaksehir’s assistant coach Pierre Webo, who is Black, by his race when sending him off the pitch, the Associated Press reports.

It immediately ignited a furor, with Basaksehir coach Okan Buruk telling Coltescu, “You are racist” and Webo himself asking at least six times, “Why you say negro?”

The clash intensified until both teams walked off the field in protest, halting the match entirely when they did not return to play under Coltescu's officiating.

The racist language was confirmed and called out by the Fare network, a EUFA partner specializing in anti-discrimination.

“Our colleagues at the Romanian state anti-discrimination organization have confirmed it is racist in Romanian to refer to a player by using his race as an identifier,” Fare’s executive director Piara Powar told AP. “There is no ambiguity. This incident shows the need for much better training of match officials.”

Canceling the match is a step beyond the speech and symbolic gestures that have been used for a long time to fight racism within the sport. Those gestures have proven ineffective at stopping the spread of slurs from the stands to attack Black players.

“If officials cannot set the standards by their own behavior,” Powar said, “they cannot be relied on to deal with racism on the pitch or in the stands.”

Players who have tried to walk off the field alone after being targeted with racial attacks in the past have faced resistance from teammates and referees, even receiving formal penalties. That may change after the Champions League match resumes Wednesday with a new referee.

“The players walking off is a step in the right direction,” former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand said during British TV show BT Sport. “But it can’t just be left to them.”