The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has fined Valencia £39,000 and handed the club a partial stadium ban for five matches after a section of their fans racially abused Real Madrid attacker Vinicius Jr during their match over the weekend.
Valencia’s south stand at Estadio Mestalla will be closed to fans but the RFEF has given Valencia 10 working days to appeal these decisions.
After the incident, Valencia released a statement condemning any kind of racism that happened and said they would work with authorities to make sure the culprits receive their punishment for this unacceptable behaviour.
Real Madrid have since reported the racial abuse of the 22-year-old to the Spanish prosecutor’s office as a hate crime. The police in Spain have arrested and detained three people in connection with the abuse directed at Vinicius at Estadio Mestalla in a match that Valencia won 1-0.
Vinicius was sent off in the 97th minute of this match but the RFEF has rescinded the red card and said the Brazilian will not be suspended making him available for Real Madrid’s game against Rayo Vallecano.
“The referee’s decision to dismiss Vinicius was due to him being deprived of a decisive part of the facts so it was impossible for him to properly assess what happened.” The statement from RFEF explained in part.
In his home country, Vinicius has received backing from the Brazilian government which condemned the act and the way La Liga officials have handled it.
La Liga has come under pressure several times from the footballing world for the way they reluctantly handle racism cases in Spain.
