“Many asked me to ignore it, many others said that my fight was in vain and that I should just ‘play football,’” Vinícius Júnior recently wrote on X. “But, as I’ve always said, I’m not a victim of racism. I am a tormentor of racists.”
In the post, Real Madrid’s star footballer announced that the three Valencia football fans who had previously been detained for their racist taunting of Viní Júnior after a Spanish league match in May 2023 had now been sentenced to eight months in prison, and banned from entering football stadiums for two years.
Muitos pediram para que eu ignorasse, outros tantos disseram que minha luta era em vão e que eu deveria apenas "jogar futebol".
— Vini Jr. (@vinijr) June 10, 2024
Mas, como sempre disse, não sou vítima de racismo. Eu sou algoz de racistas. Essa primeira condenação penal da história da Espanha não é por mim. É por… https://t.co/NdezpJBjF2
“The first criminal conviction [of this nature] in the history of Spain is not for me,” Viní Júnior proclaimed, “It’s for all [B]lack people.”
After the 2023 incident, Vinícius Júnior had been vocal about experiencing anti-Black racism in Spain. In another X post, the Brazilian footballer revealed his many encounters with racist fans.
“It wasn’t the first, nor the second, nor the third. Racism is normal in La Liga. The competition thinks it’s normal, the Federation does too and the opponents encourage it.”
He was right.
Viní Júnior is not alone in experiencing anti-Black racism on the pitch.
I attended a landmark conference earlier this year in Nottingham aimed at addressing racism and gender inequality in European football. A joint initiative between Premier League’s Nottingham Forest F.C, the Weatherhead Center at Harvard University, and the Lilian Thuram Foundation, the conference brought together academics, industry experts, current and former players, and football fans to examine inequality within the sport and explore positive transformations in it.
There, current and former European footballers from across the continent shared their experiences with anti-Black racism. Just days after AC Milan’s goalkeeper, Mike Maignan, walked off the pitch when Udinese fans allegedly made monkey noises and other racist chants, and Coventry’s midfielder, Kasey Palmer, condemned an alleged racist gesture from a fan at Sheffield, I sat with dozens of current and former players at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground and listened as they shared personal accounts of experiences with racism from their playing days, much of it from fans.
As French football legend Thierry Henry summed it best, while football provided a means for inclusion, it was never truly designed as a space for him and his Black colleagues to belong.
This week, the U.S. Soccer Federation condemned the racist social media attacks targeting Tim Weah and other U.S. national team members following their loss to Panama in Copa América.
Like Viní Júnior, many of these Black athletes have amassed the sort of influence to demand an end to racism in their sport, especially the racist behaviors from football fans.
I am, however, reluctant to applaud the criminal convictions and prison sentences for the racist fans in the way that many (including Viní) have. I do believe there must be accountability for what these fans did, but I do not believe prison offers the appropriate solution, and I worry their sentencing may do more harm than good.
Given the long history of racism and prejudice deeply embedded in nearly every European and European-descended legal system, it would be wise for these athletes to be cautious about turning to them to achieve justice.
The three Valencia fans were found guilty of a crime against moral integrity. The Magistrate’s Court of Valencia sentenced them under article 173.1 of Spain’s Criminal Code, which states, “whoever inflicts a degrading treatment on another person, seriously damaging his moral integrity, shall be punished with a sentence of imprisonment of six months to two years.”
The ruling handed down, according to the Court’s statement, “which is final, establishes as proven that the three defendants insulted Vinícius with shouts, gestures and chants referring to the colour of his skin.”
Criminal Justice in Spain?
In Spain, defendants with no prior convictions who receive prison sentences of less than two years for non-violent crimes typically don’t serve time.
This tendency originated from the Spanish General Penitentiary Law of 1979, which established a progressive system of serving prison sentences.
