The Appeal Committee of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has upheld Atlético de Madrid’s appeal and annulled the partial closure of the Civitas Metropolitano stadium for two matches and the sanction of 20,000 euros, imposed by the Disciplinary Committee on December 30. April. The closure of the stadium and the fine to the red and white club occurred after on matchday 33, in the match against Athletic Club, a fan shouted from the cheering stands imitating the sound of a monkey, directed at the visiting player Nico Williams , according to the arbitration report.
On April 30, the Competition Committee had ordered the partial closure of the Metropolitan Stadium in two matches after the racist insults suffered by footballer Nico Williams last Saturday. The disciplinary body, dependent on the Royal Spanish Football Federation, also imposed a fine of 20,000 euros on Atlético de Madrid and asked the red and white entity to identify the sector of the stands from where the verbal attacks originated, to define the part of the premises that should have been subject to the sanction.
The events cited by the disciplinary committee’s resolution occurred during Athletic’s last visit to Atlético de Madrid, when the youngest Williams was insulted by a section of the public, with the onomatopoeia of the monkey. A few minutes later, the Basque attacker scored for his team and celebrated by pointing to his skin. “It is not normal that they still insult you because of your skin color,” he stated at the end of the meeting.
At Atlético de Madrid they were surprised by the sanction, according to sources from the entity, considering that “the club has done everything possible to prevent all types of racist acts and that, once the incident occurred, it was requested over the public address system that “No insult was repeated.” Furthermore, the red and white team defends that “the action of a single person cannot punish thousands of people who have done nothing and damage the image of the club.”
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