According to the chairman of Serie A, who made the announcement on Tuesday, Italian soccer will take a “zero tolerance” stance to racist supporters, which means that they will use technology to assist identify offenders and then remove them from stadiums.
Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr. was a target of racial abuse during a match against Valencia in Spain over the weekend, and the incident has brought the topic of racist abuse of players to the forefront of the discussion in European soccer.
Luigi De Siervo, the chief executive officer of Serie A, stated to the press that “there is in stadiums, as there is in society, a percentage of racist people.”
“In today’s world, with to technological advancements and microphones installed in stadiums, we are able to punish those responsible. “It’s a battle, and like a tumor, you have to remove it methodically even if it comes back,” he said. “It’s a constant struggle.”
As an illustration of the “path to zero tolerance” for racists, De Siervo pointed out that Italy had banned around 170 Juventus fans after they shouted insults at Inter Milan’s Romelu Lukaku during a semi-final match of the Italian Cup last month. De Siervo called this an example of the “path to zero tolerance.”
According to what De Siervo said to the reporters during the briefing, the Italian government would invest 10 million euros ($11 million) to promote Serie A overseas. The Italian government will use the sponsorship to assist its own “Made in Italy” export campaign.
Italian soccer has battled with fan violence and other controversies, and Serie A has fallen behind the English Premier League and Spain’s La Liga in terms of monetary power. Additionally, Serie A has fallen behind other leagues in terms of popularity.
As part of one of the investigations into the club’s financial practices, the most successful club in the history of Italian soccer, Juventus, received a 10-point deduction on Monday.
But according to De Siervo, investments made by foreign money in recent years demonstrated that Serie A was on its way back, and the participation of Italian teams in the three big European finals that took place this season underscored the comeback.
He stated that the Juventus case, which included the accounting of transactions, demonstrated that Italy was working to address a problem that affected the whole sector.
“We are the only mature country that looks at the problem and tries to solve it for the future,” he added. “We are the only mature country that looks at the problem.”