UEFA President 'ashamed' after racist incidents tarnish football matches

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has said he felt "ashamed" at the recent incidents of racism which have tarnished football matches across Europe.

England's Raheem Sterling, Danny Rose and Callum Hudson-Odoi were all subjected to racist abuse during the 5-1 European qualifier thrashing of Montenegro in Podgorica last week.

Meanwhile, at club level, GNK Dinamo and Dynamo Kiev have been hit with stadium closures after racist behaviour by supporters.

Speaking at the Equal Game conference at Wembley, which aims to eradicate discrimination of all forms from football, Mr Ceferin repeatedly expressed his dismay at the level of abuse being heard in all levels of the game.

"I am ashamed, ashamed that in 2019 we have to hold a conference to promote diversity," the Solvenian said.

"I am ashamed that here in Europe, not a weekend goes by without discriminatory acts taking place at a football stadium, amateur level or professional level."

He added: "I am ashamed to see extremist movements use our sport as a vehicle for their messages of hatred and intolerance.

"A stadium must not or never be a forum where people are able to express their sickening fascist nostalgia."

FA chairman Greg Clarke also spoke at the conference on Tuesday and called for more to be done to support players who are abused.

Raheem Sterling was racially abused during England's 5-1 win over Montenegro. Credit: PA

He called for stewards to be given better training and highlighted the abuse English players faced during their match against Montenegro.

Mr Clarke said: "When Raheem Sterling, Danny Rose and Callum Hudson-Odoi speak with such maturity and eloquence, we must listen, we must respond - and we must not let them down.

"We must do more in England, and more across Europe, and we must do this together.

"That's the strong leadership we need to ensure we really do have an equal game.

"Now we must put some concrete actions in place."

Greg Clarke (right) spoke on the panel alongside Aleksander Ceferin (left, pictured together in 2016. Credit: PA

Clarke pointed to UEFA's guidelines which allow referees to stop, suspend or abandon matches due to racist abuse.

But the FA Chair said it was time to lower the barriers so more referees were able to take effective action.

He said: "The protocol asks the referee to stop the match if 'racist behaviour is of a strong magnitude and intensity'.

"I don't now think that is good enough and we should take this opportunity to revisit these thresholds."

He added: "There should be no judgement call on whether something is of a strong magnitude.

"Racism is racism."

Momir Djurdjevac, of the Montenegro Football Association.

However, Momir Djurdjevac, General Secretary of the Montenegro Football Association, played down just how widespread the abuse suffered by England players was in the Podgorica stadium.

Speaking through a translator, Djurdjevac said many officials at the game did not hear any monkey noises, including a UEFA match official.

He added: "I'm not saying it did not occur, because those were a handful of idiots, because of those three or four idiots.

"Please let's condemn those idiots, but let's not talk bad about 99.9% of the people who were there in the stadium that day.

"For the sake of all of us and for the media, I would wish to apologise to all those who have gained a very bad impression from Podgorica."