Gianni Infantino appoints Vinicius Jr to lead FIFA player-led anti-racism committee to impose harsher sanctions

Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr has been appointed to lead a FIFA anti-racism committee made up of players who will propose stricter penalties for discriminatory behaviour in the sport.

The 22-year-old was named by FIFA President Gianni Infantino after meeting with him and the rest of the Brazilian team who are scheduled to play Guinea in Barcelona on Saturday as a part of an anti-racism campaign promoted by the Brazilian FA, Confederacao Brasileira de Futebol (CBF).

Real Madrid also released an official statement condemning the abuse against their player, with the club reporting the incident as a “hate crime” to the Spanish Attorney General’s Office.

“There will be no more football with racism in it,” Infantino told Reuters. “The games should be stopped immediately when it happens. Enough is enough.”

“I asked Vinicius to lead this group of players that will present stricter punishments against racism that will later be implemented by all football authorities around the world.

“We need to hear the players and what they need to work in a safer environment. We are very serious about it.”

“We will implement very blunt and strong punishments to end once and for all with the problem of racism in football. We can’t tolerate racism anymore. As president of FIFA, I feel I needed to talk personally with Vinicius about it.”

Infantino further clarified that racism wasn’t simply a sporting issue but a society one, and that FIFA would work with individual countries’ authorities should further incidents occur.

“Unfortunately, racism is not a problem that exists only in Spain. It exists in many, many other countries. That is why we need to take collective measures to fight against it all over the world,” he added.

“We need the governments to understand that they need to educate children in school [about racism] because it’s a social problem, but it’s a football problem too.

“We need to stop the games, apply disciplinary and competitive measures and all of it needs to be coordinated with local authorities and governments.

“An act of racism is a criminal act… From now on, FIFA will take legal actions with local authorities too, we will join complaints filed in local justice.

“It’s impossible to tolerate it anymore. We need the help and support from the authorities because the racists need to be identified, detained and banned for life from any stadium in the world.

“And it’s not only in stadiums, in social media too. It’s also very serious and needs the same punishment.”