Bans for discriminatory abuse should at least match the sanctions imposed for betting offences, Anton Ferdinand has said.
The former QPR and West Ham defender, who was racially abused by Chelsea captain John Terry during a Premier League match in 2011, challenged the game’s authorities to act tougher on discrimination, not just talk tougher.
He also said the game’s executives should be the ones to instigate player walk-offs where there are instances of racism, rather than leave it to the players themselves.
Ferdinand, who was speaking at an event at Wembley to mark the 30th anniversary since the launch of anti-discrimination group Kick It Out, said: “Football as a whole is very good at saying ‘all forms of discrimination are top of our list to eradicate’. But the actions don’t match the words.
“How can it be at the top of the list to eradicate, but you can get an 18-month ban for betting and a four-match ban for racism or other forms of discrimination?”
Four matches was the length of the ban Terry served in 2012 after the Football Association found he had abused Ferdinand, even though a criminal court had cleared Terry of the same offence.
In contrast, Brentford forward Ivan Toney was banned for eight months in May for breaches of FA betting rules.
Asked whether racism bans should be at least that long, Ferdinand said: “It should be around that. On the simple basis that if it’s the number one thing to eradicate, how do you eradicate things? There has to be a strong deterrent.
“Right now there’s no accountability. A fan got banned for a long time (referring to a three-year ban issued to a Chelsea supporter for racially abusing Tottenham forward Son Heung-min). Is three years going to stop someone doing it? It might make them think, but is it going to stop them? No, I don’t think it will. If all of a sudden they can’t go and watch their beloved team again, they’re going to do more than think.”
Asked if he meant life bans for fans, Ferdinand added: “If it’s the top of your list (to eradicate), why wouldn’t it be?”
He also called for greater leadership from football authority executives when it comes to taking a stand against discrimination.
Ferdinand said he had met with FA chief executive Mark Bullingham to discuss the issue.
“As a player, if someone racially abuses us we’re not walking off the pitch. It’s not in us to do that,” he said.
“We’re paid competitors. The thought process is: ‘If I walk off, they’ve won. This is what they want. They want me to walk off’.
“I’m not saying it’s right, I’m just saying it’s the way we’re wired as footballers. To take that away, it can’t be just the player’s decision to walk off the pitch.
“You can’t abuse the frameworks of an organisation, but you can abuse a player. I’m telling you now, if I’m in that changing room here at Wembley and Gareth Southgate’s going ‘Who wants to walk off?’ I’m not putting my hand up because I know what’s coming.
“(The media) are going to find out who said they didn’t want to go out on the pitch, and what’s going to happen to that person? They’re going to get abused. Fact.
“Whereas if Mark Bullingham goes in the dressing room and goes ‘Gareth, the players aren’t going on and we as the FA are going to make a statement that says we drew the players off, it was nothing to do with the players’ – that’s when we’ll start to see change.”
Kick It Out published an Impact Report to mark its anniversary, which highlighted both the improvements over the last three decades and the challenges that still lie ahead.
While 73 per cent of the more than 2,500 football fans surveyed for the report felt football was now more inclusive, even higher numbers remain concerned about the impact of online abuse on inclusivity and say more needs to be done to tackle discriminatory abuse in stadiums towards players and fans.
Kick It Out chief executive Tony Burnett said the organisation is determined to tackle under-representation issues in the game, which first requires football to commit to providing transparent workforce data.
Burnett said it was a “comforting lie” that society and football told itself that it was a meritocracy.
Burnett and Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari both spoke too about the importance of simplifying the process for reporting discrimination.
Bhandari said there are currently more than 200 ways in which an incident of discrimination could be reported, and the Impact Report found only 18 per cent of fans who witnessed discrimination reported it.
Despite the positive findings on inclusivity, Burnett said far more needs to be done to improve the culture.
“It means having robust systems in place within football so that victims of discrimination are able to speak up and to feel supported appropriately,” he told delegates at Wembley.
“It means having robust processes in place to ensure perpetrators are dealt with and not simply moved aside to continue spreading hate, no matter their status or their track record of success. A bully is a bully. A homophobe is a homophobe. And they should have no place in our game.”
Cubarsi headlines Spain squad for Paris Olympics
Barcelona's Pau Cubarsi has been named in Spain's squad for the football tournament at the Paris Olympic Games, with Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams and Pedri among the eligible players not selected.
The 17-year-old centre-back was named in Luis de la Fuente's provisional squad for Euro 2024 but was cut ahead of La Roja's final party being announced.
He is joined by Eric Garcia, who spent last season on loan at Girona, while Fermin Lopez and Alex Baena are included despite being at Euro 2024 with the senior team.
Head coach Santi Denia was able to select players under the age of 23, with Manchester City's Sergio Gomez, Sporting CP's Abel Ruiz and Real Betis left-back Juan Miranda taking the three overage spots.
The likes of Yamal, Williams and Pedri were eligible but have not been chosen in what is initially a 22-man squad but must be cut to 18 ahead of the Games.
Spain took silver at the delayed 2020 Games in Tokyo three years ago, losing 2-1 in extra time to Brazil in the gold medal match.
For this year's competition, they have been drawn alongside Uzbekistan, Egypt and the Dominican Republic in Group C, facing the former in their first match on July 24.
Provisional Spain squad: Arnau Tenas (Paris Saint-Germain), Joan Garcia (Espanyol), Alejandro Iturbe (Atletico Madrid), Marc Pubill (Almeria), Juanlu Sanchez (Sevilla), Eric Garcia (Barcelona), Cristhian Mosquera (Valencia), Pau Cubarsi (Barcelona), Jon Pacheco (Real Sociedad), Juan Miranda (Real Betis), Miguel Gutierrez (Girona), Adrian Bernabe (Parma), Benat Turrientes (Real Sociedad), Alex Baena (Villarreal), Pablo Barrios (Atletico Madrid), Aimar Oroz (Osasuna), Sergio Gomez (Manchester City), Fermin Lopez (Barcelona), Diego Lopez (Valencia), Sergio Camello (Rayo Vallecano), Samu Omorodion (Atletico Madrid), Abel Ruiz (Braga).
'I knew it could be good' - Sabitzer proud after earning Austria top spot
Marcel Sabitzer is proud of not only his winning goal, but also the strength Austria showed in their 3-2 victory over the Netherlands on Tuesday.
Ralf Rangnick's side were drawn into a group including pre-tournament favourites France, the Netherlands and Poland, and few expected them to come out on top.
However, after narrowly losing their opening to Les Bleus, Austria beat Poland 3-1 before Sabitzer struck the winner – his first goal at the European Championships – against the Netherlands to see them finish first in Group D.
With a last-16 tie against one of the best third-place teams still to come, Sabitzer is confident in Austria's togetherness.
"I got the ball deep, I looked up to see if someone was free in the middle, but I got the impression that [the Netherlands] had more men there. In the past, the left foot has often helped me, so I thought that was the moment I could give it a try," Sabitzer told reporters.
"As soon as the ball left my foot, I knew it could be good.
"We are all footballers who want to win games, and that is our objective in every game. And if you have moments where things are a bit more difficult, and it goes back and forth, then the question is how does the team react to that.
"You can be proud of the unity we have, the mentality we have on the pitch ... we used our strengths, the goal was very nicely worked. So many Austrians who watch us in the stadium trust us, and we want to give them something back."
Chile 0-1 Argentina: Super sub Martinez sends Albiceleste to Copa America quarter-finals
Lautaro Martinez struck a late winner as Argentina beat Chile 1-0 to secure their place in the Copa America knockout stages with a game to spare.
The reigning champions looked like they would have to settle for a point on a frustrating night at the MetLife Stadium, having failed to turn their superiority into the game's opening goal.
But substitute Martinez, who also netted from the bench in his nation's opener against Canada, finally broke Chile's resolve when he lashed home two minutes from time.
It moved Lionel Scaloni's side onto six points at the Group A summit, three points ahead of Canada, who beat Peru 1-0 earlier in the day. A draw against Peru in their final game will now be enough to secure top spot.
Argentina dominated the first half with 13 unanswered shots, yet just three of those were on target. One of them saw Julian Alvarez fire straight at Claudio Bravo from close range in the 22nd minute.
Lionel Messi also went close to scoring in the 36th minute. La Albiceleste's skipper let fly with a fizzing 25-yard attempt that clipped the outside of Bravo's left post, while Erick Pulgar almost turned Nahuel Molina's cross beyond the Chile goalkeeper two minutes later.
La Roja had Bravo to thank for keeping Argentina at bay, as the reigning champions continued to carry the greater attacking threat after the break.
The veteran stopper beat away Molina's fierce strike within five minutes of the restart, and just after the hour mark, he produced a superb reflex save to tip Nicolas Gonzalez's drive onto the crossbar.
With the breakthrough still eluding the world champions, Scaloni bolstered his attack by introducing Angel Di Maria and Martinez for the final 17 minutes.
Chile had increased their own attacking threat by registering their first attempts on goal in the contest, with Rodrigo Echeverria calling Emiliano Martinez into action on both occasions.
Yet, there was to be a late twist in Argentina's favour when an 88th-minute corner broke kindly for Martinez, who reacted quickest to fire into the roof of the net and send La Albiceleste through to the quarter-finals.
Persistence pays dividends for Argentina
The history books would have suggested Argentina should have fancied their chances against Chile.
This is epitomised by the fact they are now unbeaten after 90 minutes in the last 13 meetings, winning eight of those, but that does not tell the full story.
Seven of those eight victories have only been by a single-goal margin and, of course, they lost on penalties in the Copa America final showdowns of 2015 and 2016.
Though they dominated most of this contest and registered 22 shots to their opponents' three, just the one goal was enough once more, with both of Martinez's strikes from the bench in this competition coming in the 88th minute.
Argentina progress to the Copa America knockout stages for a 14th consecutive time, excluding when they withdrew from the 2001 tournament.
Toothless Roja see resistance broken
Chile looked set to frustrate Argentina once again at the Copa America and hold out for a second successive clean sheet.
Their defensive resolve - along with an inspired performance by Bravo between the sticks - looked like it would remain firm and keep the reigning champions at bay, until Martinez's late intervention.
What will be more concerning for La Roja is the fact they have now gone four successive Copa America matches without scoring, while having to wait until the 72nd minute for their first attempt on goal.
That is something they need to address quickly ahead of their crucial final Group A clash with Canada, in which a victory could still see them snatch second place and a quarter-final spot.
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