July 25 – The row over the alleged racist incident that caused Patrick Viera to withdraw his Manchester City under-21 side during a match against HNK Rijeka has now prompted the Croatian Football Federation to start an investigation.
In a statement to the Press Association, The Croatian Football Federation (CFF) said it will be looking into claims that Manchester City’s Seko Fofana was racially abused during Tuesday night’s friendly in Novigrad.
Fofana alleged that he had been targeted by Rijeka players after being sent off for a second yellow card in the second half.
City were 1-0 down at the time and Rijeka manager Ranko Buketa has suggested the decision to walk off might have had as much to do with City’s struggling performance as any alleged racist incident. He insists there was no incident.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini has backed Vieira’s stance and City are considering making an official complaint to UEFA.
The Croatian statement said: “The Croatian Football Federation is in a process of gathering information regarding the alleged incident and if there are any decisions to be made we’ll make it public on our website.
“CFF follows a strong ‘no racism’ policy so we take all accusations of racism very seriously. The fight against racism (and any sort of discrimination) is one of the key components of our president Davor Suker’s program and that is why we will have a good look into this matter.”
Croatia has been caught up in racist and discrimination incidents before, As has Manchester City. The most high profile was when CSKA Moscow were ordered by UEFA to close part of their stadium after midfielder Yaya Toure was racially abused during a Champions League match in October 2013.
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