The Korea Herald

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Officials deny Euro 2012 will be tainted by racism

By Korea Herald

Published : June 1, 2012 - 18:03

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KIEV (AP) ― Ukrainian officials are denying that football fans of African and Asian origin will be the targets of violence by racist hooligans at the European Championship, and a top tournament organizer says stewards ― and not police ― will be the most visible security at stadiums.

A BBC documentary this week showed footage of Ukrainian hooligans attacking Asian fans supporting the same team at a domestic league match, as well as examples of blatant anti-Semitism.

Former England soccer player Sol Campbell has warned English fans to stay home or risk returning “in a coffin.” And the families of two black England players ― Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain ― say they may not travel to the June 8 to July 1 tournament that will be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.

Markiyan Lubkivskyi, UEFA’s tournament director in Kiev, said such claims were made by people who don’t know anything about the country.

“For me, it is very important to bring to Ukraine a lot of people and a lot of supporters to discover Ukraine because Ukraine is still colored with a lot of horror stories, with a lot of rumors with a lot things which have nothing to do with reality,” he told the Associated Press. “So it was a little bit funny to hear comments from Campbell, who never visited Ukraine.”

He said UEFA is “very strict” regarding racism and that they’d be showing “zero tolerance.”

He says that not one match at the tournament has been highlighted as high-risk and that about 30 police officers will be in a room on standby to handle fan violence if necessary, but they will be inside the stadium and away from the stands.

Ronaldinho leaves Flamengo

SAO PAULO (AP) ― Ronaldinho’s stint with Brazil’s most popular club is over after the player decided to sue Flamengo for reportedly $20 million for unpaid salaries and delayed payments.

Ronaldinho’s lawyer Gislaine Nunes said on Thursday a judge ruled in favor of the player’s request to have his contract terminated. They want the club to pay everything they claim it owes to the 2004 and 2005 FIFA player of the year in wages and other rights.

“We didn’t expect an attitude like this,” club president Patricia Amorim said.