La Liga Could Reduce Racism In Six Month – Tebas1 min read

Real Valladolid and Barcelona players hold up an anti-racism banner which translates into English as ‘Racists, out of football’

La Liga could reduce the amount of racist incidents in Spain’s top flight in six or seven months if it had the “necessary powers”, the league’s president Javier Tebas says.

That came after Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr was the target of racist abuse at Valencia on Sunday.

“We are convinced that if we had those powers, within months we would get rid of this problem,” Tebas told the BBC.

“At least we would improve it considerably in general and specifically in the case of Vinicius. But if we don’t have the powers, all we can do is file complaints,” he added.

Vinicius has been the target of racist abuse a number of times this season and the latest incident has seen him receive support from the footballing world, with players and fans showing support for the Brazilian during the match between Real and Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday.

Tebas said the league has registered nine complaints about racist abuse directed specifically towards Vinicius.

Under Spanish law, La Liga can identify and report cases, but not impose sanctions.

“We want powers, we don’t want to hide on the issue of racist insults,” Tebas said.

“It’s not enough for us only to be able to file complaints, we want to be able to punish anyone who shouts racist insults.