Online racial abuser given 8-month prison sentence for insulting Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior and Antonio Rudige

Real Madrid said Wednesday that a Spanish court has given a suspended eight-month prison sentence to a person who racially abused Vinícius Júnior and Antonio Rudiger in the comments section of Marca, a sPanish sports news website.

The club said that the offender was found guilty of harming the moral integrity of the players, both of whom are Black. The person also reportedly used hateful language to denigrate Rudiger’s Islamic faith.

“The accused was found guilty of two offences against moral integrity committed against Vinicius Junior and Antonio Rüdiger, both aggravated by the fact that they acted with racist motives and, in the case of Antonio Rüdiger, also in contempt of his religion,” Real said in a press release.

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— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) July 17, 2024

The offender avoided prison after agreeing to participate in an anti-discrimination awareness program, the club said.

“It’s something very sad what I have been going through here. It’s tough. I’ve been fighting against this for a long time. It’s exhausting because you feel like you are alone. I’ve made so many official complaints but no one is ever punished. “More and more I’m losing my desire to play. But I’ll keep fighting,” Vinicis had said back in April on the eve of Brazil vs Spain’s “One Skin” friendly match.

The racist abuse before the One Skin friendly wasn’t the first time the Brazil forward has been subject to these kinds of incidents throughout his career in the Spanish capital. In May 2023, Real Madrid had launched a complaint against some Valencia fans who had aimed racist chants towards Vinicius at Estadio de Mestalla.

Even before that, chants of “die Vinicius” were heard in Barcelona’s 2022-23 league title winning celebrations which led to the filing of 8 complaints of racial abuse to the La Liga.

In June, three Valencia fans were handed eight-month prison sentences after pleading guilty to racially insulting Vinícius during a Spanish league game in May 2023. That was the first conviction for racism-related cases in professional soccer in Spain.

(With agency inputs)

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