Christopher Samba suffers racist abuse in Russia

Tuesday 23 Sep 2014
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Congo’s Christopher Samba has been racially abused playing for Dynamo Moscow in the Russian Premier League.

Racist chants were directed at the defender during a game against FC Torpedo Moscow, according to a Russian Football Union (RFU) representative.

Dynamo’s vice-president Gennady Soloviev said that Samba was substituted after refusing to go back on the pitch after half-time.

Soloviev added that Samba had taken offence to the Torpedo fans’ chants.

The club’s manager Stanislav Cherchesov said after the game on Monday that Samba – who previously played for QPR and Blackburn – was substituted because of a calf injury.

The Russian Football Union (RFU)’s disciplinary committee will hold a hearing on the case on Thursday.

As there was a note on racist chants in the report filed by the RFU’s representative – also known as a delegate – at the match, FC Torpedo may face a possible sanction or a ban on playing in their home ground in Ramenskoye, near Moscow.

Former RFU chief Vyacheslav Koloskov – who is also a former Fifa vice-president – said the Moscow club may be punished by being forced to play its next game without home spectators.

Torpedo’s president Alexander Tukmanov said he did not hear chants directed towards Samba, but added that the RFU delegate must have had a reason to mention it in his report.

It is the second such incident involving Samba after a fan in Moscow threw a banana at him in March 2012, while playing for fellow Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala. Samba picked up the banana and threw it back into the stands.

Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos was racially abused twice in Russia while also playing for Anzhi. Both incidents happened in 2011 – in Saint Petersburg and Samara- both host cities for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

St. Petersburg has also been announced among the cities to host Euro 2020 matches, including the quarter-final.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said at a handover ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, before the World Cup final in July, that he hoped the World Cup would help Russia in its fight against racism.

“President Blatter puts a lot of personal effort into addressing social issues, and we hope that the preparations for the World Cup in Russia will also contribute to tasks such as fighting drugs, racism and other challenges we face today,” Putin said.

Racism has proved to be one of the biggest problems in Russian football recently.

In October 2013 Russian champion CSKA Moscow were punished by Uefa with the partial closure of their stadium in a Champions League match, following racist chanting directed at Manchester City’s Yaya Toure.

From BBC Sport

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