Racism in Soccer

By Julian A., Cruz J., and Rhodes S.
Published May 15, 2024

Racism is a big problem in the world but it is not only in life, some soccer players experience it too. 

A soccer player that demonstrates that is Vinicius Junior, or as many people call him, Vini jr. during a game against Valencia, which is a Spanish team. As he said in one of his interviews, “There are a lot of racists in Spain and many of them come to these stadiums." After the game against Valencia, he broke into tears and said, "more and more I'm losing my desire to play…but I'll keep fighting." He also said, "I'll stay here, playing for the best club in the world and scoring goals and winning titles…and people will have to keep seeing my face for a long time." When he said this, despite the racial slurs, he kept playing and is still one of the very best in the world. 

Another player who was hurt by racial slurs was Kylian Mbappe. Mbappe was so offended that he was driven to say “I cannot play for people who think I’m a monkey.” This means people are treating black players differently. He also was abused racially on social media after the French National Team lost to Argentina in the World Cup Finals. “You are not alone. We are with you and we support you,” Mbappé wrote on Instagram on May 22, 2023. In the face of racist attacks, he was able to stay positive, but he shouldn't have to deal with it at all.

In conclusion these examples show that racism is bad and should be stopped. It also has an effect on how famous athletes might get mad about racism and not want to be part of the sport they play because they are not appreciated. For example Vini Jr. had a lot of comments in a game from the crowd. They were calling him a monkey and throwing banana peels at him. He was very mad about this and said that he might want to stop playing. Despite all that he is still playing today and being one of the best.  This needs to change now because it could spread in different sports and affect the other players.