DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — A 17-year-old player for Borussia Dortmund was racially abused in two consecutive UEFA Youth League games against Sevilla, the German club said Wednesday.
Dortmund said Guinean midfielder Abdoulaye Kamara faced racist abuse in a game in Spain last week and was then subjected to monkey chants on Tuesday in the return fixture in Germany.
German news agency DPA reported Wednesday that UEFA is investigating the incident. Sevilla has denied any racism took place.
Dortmund said it had warned the referees ahead of the second game.
“Sadly, the whole incident relates back to something that happened in the first leg a week ago, when the same Sevilla player from yesterday targeted racist abuse at our player Abdou Kamara. After last week’s incident, we had hoped to see a firm stance taken by Sevilla,” Dortmund youth academy director Lars Ricken said in a statement.
“In light of prior events, we turned to the refereeing team and asked that they act with increased sensibility in this regard, which they agreed they would do. Yet after the same thing happened again, and Abdou Kamara tried to bring it to the fourth official’s attention, the refereeing team claimed that the unmistakable monkey noises could not be considered a clear incidence of racism.”
Dortmund did not name the Sevilla player.
Ricken said Dortmund opted to continue the game for fear of “additional sanctions,” in part because the referee had not accepted that the incident was racist.
Dortmund youth coach Mike Tullberg told the Ruhr Nachrichten local newspaper that the players supported the decision to keep playing. Kamara was substituted at the start of the second half.
The Youth League is a European Under-19 competition which runs alongside the Champions League.
___
AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports