The FIGC Prosecutor’s Office has promised ‘severe sanctions’ as strengthened anti-racism measures come into action ahead of this weekend’s round of Serie A action.
Racism has continued to plague the Italian topflight in recent years and the latest unfortunate victim was Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie, who was racially abused by some travelling Lazio fans at the Allianz Stadium during their Coppa Italia semi-final clash on Tuesday evening.
Whilst Lazio are expected to receive some form of punishment as a result of the incident, it only added further fuel to the discourse following the recent incident involving Inter’s Francesco Acerbi and Napoli’s Juan Jesus, where the former was cleared of racially abusing the latter by the sports judge.
Serie A combats racism
ANSA details how the FIGC Prosecutor’s Office has decided to strengthen anti-racism measures in Serie A ahead of this weekend’s action, raising the level of alert inside and outside stadiums.
The increased security comes as a result of a ‘discriminatory drift’ of some extreme supporters’ groups. The FIGC Prosecutor’s Office have promised ‘no impunity in the face of cases of racism’ and that racist chanting or singing will be dealt with.
‘There will be severe sanctions as provided for by the sporting justice code’, the statement clarifies, as federal inspectors look to increasingly scrutinise fan misconduct.