Brazil announces games with African nations targeted against racism
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The Brazilian Football Association announces that its men's football team will take part in two friendly games against Guinea in Spain and Senegal in Portugal as part of its campaign to fight racism in the sport.
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Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior celebrates Lucas Paqueta's goal against South Korea in the Round of 16 of the FIFA World CUP Qatar 2022 at Stadium 974, Doha, Qatar, December 5, 2022 (Reuters)
Brazil will take part in friendlies with African countries as the nation attempts to raise awareness against racism after their star football player Vinicius Junior faced racial abuse during a La Liga game between Valencia CF and Real Madrid, the Brazilian Football Association (CBF) revealed on Friday.
The Brazilian national team is set to play against Guinea in Barcelona, Spain on June 17 and Senegal in Lisbon, Portugal on June 20.
The CBF's recently elected president Ednaldo Rodrigues launched a campaign against racial abuse targeted against players dubbed "There is no game with racism" which has worked on pushing for new legislation that hosts more severe punishments against racism in Brazilian football stadiums.
“We want Brazil to lead the fight against racism worldwide,” Rodrigues told Reuters earlier in March
According to Reuters, the CBF worked in conjunction with the Real Madrid star to ensure that he is comfortable with the match which will be held in Iberia.
The Brazilian national team will be coached by caretaker manager Ramon Menezes as the CBF is still looking to appoint a replacement. Rodriguez previously told Reuters that the association is happy to have Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti fill in the vacant spot, however, Ancelloti still has one year on his contract with the Spanish club.
Spanish courts take action against Valencia fans
A court in Valencia, Spain is investigating three football fans who yelled racial slurs at Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior during a match between Valencia and Real Madrid at the Metsala Stadium last Sunday.
"The head of the Investigating Court No. 10 of Valencia has initiated preliminary proceedings to investigate the racist insults directed at Real Madrid player Vinicius Junior," the General Council of the Judiciary said in a statement on Friday, adding that "The court has opened the proceedings following the reception of a report of a possible hate crime prepared by Information Brigade of the Superior Police Headquarters of the Valencian Community."
The 22-year-old Brazilian international has often been targeted by rival fans in Spain's La Liga and was once more in a 1-0 loss at Valencia on Sunday.
The game was held up for several minutes and the referee wrote in his post-match report that shouts of "monkey" had been directed against Vinicius.
After the final whistle, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said, "I don't want to talk about football, I want to talk about what happened here, it is more important."
"A stadium shouting monkey at a player, and that a coach has to think about taking off the player, there's something bad in this league," Ancelotti told Movistar.
He said Spanish football needed to be prepared to halt matches, making clear that "the Spanish league has a problem, and Vinicius is not the problem. Vinicius is the victim. There's a very serious problem."
