SOCCER / JULIE CART : European Scene Being Marred by Outbursts of Fans’ Racism
As European professional soccer is opening more and more to the developing world, racial and ethnic intolerance is on the rise.
In Italy and Germany, in particular, African and other foreign players are the targets of racial slurs, ugly banners and even physical attacks.
Soccer hooligans are being linked to neo-Nazi skinheads, who shout “Jews out!” and “foreigners out!” at games and give the Nazi salute when their team scores.
In Italy, officials of Fiorentina changed the club’s uniform when it was discovered that a pattern on it resembled scores of tiny swastikas.
There are only 10 black players in the German first division, but their stylish play and small numbers make them stand out. In Germany and in Italy, fans have thrown bananas on the field when a black player is present.
Anthony Yeboah of Ghana, who plays for Eintracht Frankfurt and is one of the top strikers in Europe, is often the object of racial epithets. Another African player in the Hungarian league has been assaulted and told to get out of the country.
Shortly before the European leagues’ winter break, all 18 teams in the German Bundesliga took part in a symbolic call for an end to the hatred. In the last game before the break, the players replaced their sponsor’s jerseys with one that bore the message: Mein Freund Ist Auslander (“My friend is a foreigner.”)
Eric Wynalda of Westlake Village, who plays for FC Saarbruecken in the German first division, recently joined Yeboah on a national television talk show to denounce racism.
Wynalda and other American players have been taunted as “outsiders.”
As soccer begins to take an even larger place on the world stage as the 1994 Wold Cup approaches, officials need to continue the campaign to blunt fan intolerance, which so often leads to fan violence.
The U.S. Soccer Federation has issued invitations to 20 national team players, offering them contracts and housing at the new national team training center at Mission Viejo. The center will open Jan. 11.
The facility is the first of its kind in the United States. The national team will train in preparation for the World Cup in prime conditions that closely approximate those of international soccer powers. The training center has two state-of-the-art fields, a club house and other practice facilities.
The players and their families will stay in housing provided by a private Mission Viejo soccer foundation and will be expected to live at the site when not traveling with the team.
Although such training facilities are common in some nations, it will be the first time the United States has had such a training center. It will be especially helpful as an assembly point once the World Cup team is selected. In 1990, then-U.S. coach Bob Gansler had to make do with players scattered across the nation who would come together shortly before major competitions.
World Cup Coach Bora Milutinovic said the addition of the site signals the USSF’s commitment to providing the national team with all possible advantages.
Of the 20 invited to the training center, a handful have already signed contracts with the USSF. But at least one, USSF player of the year, Marcelo Balboa, has not.
According to Balboa’s agent, Shelli Azoff, the federation is taking a hard line with players while negotiating contracts, leaving little room for discussion and telling the players that if they don’t like it, they can play somewhere else.
The USSF has all the leverage in this, a year before the World Cup. Forty players are vying for positions on the final World Cup roster, and few would risk angering the national governing body.
Yet the players have a legitimate gripe: the contract before the last World Cup gave players 80% of their transfer fee to a professional team. The federation got 20%. Now the figures are more like 90-10, with 90% going to the federation. Additionally, the USSF’s restrictive endorsement contract with their footwear and apparel sponsor severely limits the players’ opportunities to sign their own endorsement deals.
A meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee resolved several matters concerning the World Cup when it met last month in Zurich, Switzerland.
The World Cup Organizing Committee appointed a committee to study whether teams should be given three points instead of two for first-round victories in the 1994 tournament. The committee will report in June.
Another change being discussed is drug testing, to be conducted for the first time in World Cup qualifying, not just the during the finals, as has been done.
One item not discussed but closely watched is the plan to change overtime to sudden death during World Cup games. The current format calls for 30 minutes of overtime. The entire overtime period is played, no matter how many goals are scored. The move to sudden death, some argue, would make the overtime more exciting by eliminating the penalty kicks that so often decide a match.
FIFA will experiment with sudden death in the under-20 world championships in Australia in March.
World Cup qualifying update:
Belgium appears certain to qualify in Europe’s Group 4. The team’s fans think so, too. After Belgium scored the second goal during its 2-0 qualifying victory over Wales, the Belgian crowd began to chant, “U.S.A.”
After missing the 1990 World Cup qualifying for using underage players, Mexico set a CONCACAF record for largest margin of victory in a World Cup qualifying game when it beat St. Vincent & the Grenadines on Dec. 6, 11-0.
Milutinovic, who has coached in both countries, predicts Mexico and Costa Rica will qualify from the region. Milutinovic coached the Costa Rican team that surprised many by advancing out of the first round in 1990 while the other CONCACAF representative, the United States, did not.
Struggling teams: England in Group 2 and European champion Denmark in Group 3.
Soccer Notes
Information regarding ticket sales for the 1994 World Cup will be announced within the next few weeks. . . . Marco Van Basten of the Netherlands was voted European player of the year for the third time, tying a record. Van Basten, who plays for AC Milan, won the award in 1988 and 1989. Michel Platini of France and Johan Cruyff of the Netherlands are the only other three-time winners. The award came one day before Van Basten was scheduled to undergo surgery on his right ankle. He is expected to be sidelined for two months. . . . According to wire service reports, a doping scandal has developed in the successful Uruguayan youth program, called baby futbol . The highly-organized national program includes players from ages 6 to 13.
