The semifinal of the Paulista Championship between Palmeiras and São Paulo, this Monday (10), was marked by actions to combat racism by both clubs. The measures come after Luighi Santos, 18, a player in the base categories of Alviverde, was the target of racist attacks from a Paraguayan fan during a match against Cerro Porteño in the Libertadores U-20 Cup on Thursday (6).
The case gained repercussion with Luighi’s reaction in an interview after the game, and adds to others that involved athletes such as Vinicius Junior, Neymar and Aranha. The annual report of the Observatory of Racial Discrimination in Football, released last year, accounted for 136 cases of racism, not all with conviction, in Brazil in 2023. An increase of 38.8% over the previous season.
The repercussion of Luighi’s case also rekindled the debate on punishments. The sanctions to Cerro Porteño has boiled down to the Paraguayan team’s base category, which has already been eliminated from the U20 Libertadores, and a fine. Palmeiras and CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) considered the measures taken by Conmebol (South American Football Confederation) insufficient.
Breakfast on Tuesday (11) discusses why football has difficulty punishing racism effectively. The executive director of the Observatory of Racial Discrimination in Football, Marcelo Carvalho, deals with the repetition of racist attacks on the stadiums, discusses the institutional responses to them and analyzes how the scenario impacts black players on and off the field.
The audio program is published in Spotify, partner streaming service Sheet In the initiative and that specializes in music, podcast and video. You can hear the episode by clicking above. To access the application, simply register for free.
Breakfast is published from Monday to Friday, always at the beginning of the day. The episode is presented by journalists Gabriela Mayer and Gustavo Simon, produced by Gustavo Luiz, Lucas Monteiro, Maurício Meireles and Raphael Conci. The sound edition is by Thomé Granmann.
