Racial Abuse: Valencia fine, stadium closure reduced on appeal

 

Following an appeal, Valencia’s sentence was reduced for racial epithets directed at Vinicius Jr. of Real Madrid by the club’s supporters.

The number of games that will be partially closed at Mestalla Stadium has been reduced from five to three.

Valencia’s monetary fine was reduced from 45,000 euros to 27,000 euros as a result of the Spanish Football Federation appeals committee’s decision to “partially uphold” their appeal.

MuchTalksBlog had reported that Vinicius, a 22-year-old Brazilian, was subjected to racial taunts from the audience.

Real Madrid reported the abuse as a “hate crime” to the Spanish prosecutor’s office, and Spanish police have detained three people in connection with the abuse.

Valencia had ten days to file an appeal in response to the fine and partial stadium shutdown, which they claimed were “disproportionate, unjust, and unprecedented.”

“Valencia have collaborated from the first minute with the police and all relevant authorities to clarify the events that occurred,” a statement from the club read following the initial punishment.

“In addition, we have applied the maximum possible sanction with the ban for life from our stadium for racist behaviour of the fans identified by police.”

Vinicius has since returned to the game after the rants that ensued following the show of shame at Valencia.