This black. What caused the loudest racist scandal in the history of the Champions League in Paris

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UEFA decided to end the match PSG – Istanbul Basaksehir (Photo: REUTERS / Charles Platiau)

We will tell you what happened, who Kolzescu is, a racist or a victim of xenophobia, and why the incident could play an important role in the fight against racism in modern football.

How it all started

… The game in Paris was immediately nervous. In the 12th minute, Istanbul team defender Rafael rudely blocked Parisian player Mitchell Bakker, referee Ovidiu Hatsegan showed the offender a yellow card. The guests’ head coach Okan Buruk was warned by the protests.

A minute later, PSG player Presnel Kimpembe made a dangerous tackle: the judge signaled a free kick for Istanbul Bashakshehir. The screams came from the guest bench «Hey, this is a yellow card! ”, Were clearly heard in the empty stadium.

Hatsegan was in no rush to restart the match, hearing the message from fourth official Sebastian Koltsesku via radio communication. Then he ran to the edge with a red card in hand.

Romanian television crews reestablished lip movement dialogue.

Do: Who is red?

Kolcescu: That nigga over there (ăla negru). Come and find out who it is. A black guy over there. You can’t behave like this.

«Black boy, “the judge called Istanbul Bashakshehir’s assistant head coach, Cameroonian Pierre Vebo …

Hysteria

Other events were massively replicated. Webo rebelled (“Why are you calling me black?”), Istanbul substitute player Demba Ba ran to help (“Why, when you talk about white, don’t you say ‘white boy’?”), coach Okan Buruk walked around Koltsescu repeating the same phrase: “You are a racist”.

The fourth official explained to the UEFA delegate that in Romanian the word black is not an insult, he only wanted to identify the offender.

The skirmish lasted 10 minutes, then the Istanbul Basaksehir players headed to the locker room. Midfielder Mehmet Topal, passing by the referees, told them: “We have to respect people, this is no longer football.”

Soon, the local team also left the field. The game never resumed.

Suicide and savior

Sebastian Kolzescu was born in 1977 in Craiova. The Romanian top division has been judging since 2003. In 2006, it received FIFA referee status, but was soon excluded from the number of international judges and transferred to the lower divisions due to numerous errors.

This situation overlapped with Kolzesku’s family problems: in 2007 he divorced his wife. The referee decided to commit suicide. On October 3, 2008, he almost managed to jump out of the third-floor window, but police and firefighters managed to stop him at the last second. Koltsescu admitted that this was the second suicide attempt …

He returned to the ranks of Romania’s elite referees, renewed his FIFA license in 2013.

In Romania, Kolzescu is considered an extremely volatile referee. Former FIFA referee and now coach Adrián Porumboiu once commented: “Maybe he has talent, but he may try another profession, as a singer or dancer … It is clear that referees, like all people, are prone to committing mistakes, but not in the same amount and not so many years in a row. There was not a single match in which Kolzescu’s work did not affect the result. “

He has never worked in big tournaments, this season he served on the field only one match in European cups. At the same time, he constantly enters the brigade of the best Romanian referee and his friend Hatsegan as the fourth referee.

Once this couple made it to the pages of the press, they were not related to football. The team was returning to Romania after the Champions League match and Kolzescu noticed that one of the passengers on the plane was having difficulty breathing. “Koltsesku helped a lot,” recalls Hatsegan, a doctor by training. It hurt to look at her. The children flew with her, they were taken by a flight attendant. What Sebi and I did helped that woman, she’s alive. “

In November 2020, Koltseska was excluded from the FIFA referee list for next year.

Racism

In social networks, support for Webo was expressed by PSG leaders Killian Mbappé and Neymar.

«Unintentional racism is racism anyway, Piara Povar, executive director of the Organization Against Discrimination in Soccer, told The Associated Press. “If officials don’t set the standard for their behavior, they cannot be trusted to combat racism on the field or in the stands.” He believes that in this situation, the players had the right to stop the game.

Many stars of the past, such as Rio Ferdinand and Didier Drogba, see teams leaving the field as a safe step to counter xenophobia.

In the homeland of the arbitrators, accusations are also made against them. The aforementioned Porumboyu is confident that the entire Hatsegan brigade will suffer severe punishment. “Now that there are so many microphones, it is easy to guess what the referees are talking about. Translating is not difficult at all. You don’t need to know a foreign language to understand it: black in any language in the world means black. I can’t imagine what was on Kolzesku’s head, ”he said in an interview with ProSport.

Romanian Sports Minister Ionuts Stroe apologized on behalf of his department. “Such unsuccessful sentences should be punished, the language should be as neutral as possible. We cannot condone this behavior, ”he said on Digi24 air, expressing the hope that a diplomatic scandal will be avoided.

However, the incident has already gone beyond the Champions League. Turkish President Recep Erdogan in persecution was denounced on Twitter «attacks ”on a member of the Istanbul Bashakshehir coaching staff. And at a press conference in Ankara on December 9, he noted that it was no coincidence that the scandal occurred in France, where «racist rhetoric and racist actions are on the rise, ”writes Reuters.

Erdogan, as mayor of Istanbul, was at the origins of the Istanbul Basaksehir club, which became the champion of Turkey for the first time in 2020. In October, in response to statements by French President Emmanuel Macron on the need to fight against the Islamic radicalism, Erdogan asked his compatriots to boycott French products.

Not racism

Many famous players in the past, including dark-skinned ones, participated in the defense of Kolzesku. Former Manchester City defender Mika Richards told CBS that the use of the floor «black ”cannot be considered an insult, the context is important. “If you called me black now, in this study, I wouldn’t be offended,” he explained.

Former England midfielder John Barnes tweeted Istanbul Bashakshehir’s coaches list, noting that only one of the seven staff members is black. “Here is the Istanbul coaching staff… One of them needs to be removed, and the referee asks the substitute referee who exactly. Can anyone explain to me how else the referee should have appointed him if he doesn’t know the names of the coaches and they don’t have numbers? “- read the tweet.

Kolzescu himself, in a brief comment on Spanish television, said that he would not read the press in the next few days to «maintain adequacy ”. “Anyone who knows me will tell you: I am not a racist. At least I hope so ”, said the referee.

On his Twitter, he wrote, who regrets the misunderstanding that has arisen.

On December 9, the Romanian website Fanatic, according to relatives of members of the refereeing team, reported that Kolzescu had been provoked. From the first minute of the match, the Turkish team’s bench interfered with the referees’ work, rude expressions sounded at them, and several times someone yelled Gypsy! – “gypsies”. Kolzescu himself is a victim of racism, which is why he demanded that Hatsegan remove coach Webo, the publication concludes.

Now what?

UEFA tried to silence the scandal immediately. It was proposed to replace Koltseska with a member of the video referee team and the Romanian to sit at the monitor. PSG and Istanbul refused. “We won’t play while he’s here,” Mbappe said.

According to the regulations of the Champions League, a team that refuses to play or leaves the field during a match is considered defeated and the club receives a fine of $ 281,000, but what if both teams do not want to play?

As a result, the soccer officials decided to continue the game from the minute it was interrupted. The additional game is scheduled for 7:55 p.m. on December 9. The panel of judges was completely replaced. Danny McKeley from the Netherlands became the head referee. Webo’s red card has been canceled and he can take his place on the Turkish team bench.

An investigation was ordered against the referees for Tuesday’s game. UEFA’s charter states that referees and other officials must «refrain from any action that may be unsportsmanlike and / or contrary to UEFA’s interests, behave in a professional and appropriate manner before, during and after the match for which they are appointed. “

UEFA’s anti-discrimination protocol provides for the possibility of suspension of the game in the event of racist or xenophobic shouts from fans. If the offense is repeated, the match is over. Nowhere is there a mention of a possible protocol violation by an official.

Football experts do not rule out that the Paris episode plays a key role in the development of a new interpretation of the rules.

Famed coach José Mourinho told Sky Sports that he expects a turning point in the fight against racism and any form of discrimination. “I know Ovidiu Hatsegan personally. A good person, an excellent referee. The fact that he unknowingly became a participant in cult events is not good. The fourth judge, of course, made an irreparable mistake, but only he can open his feelings to us, apologize and accept all the consequences … If we are wrong, we must take responsibility. But the most important thing for me is that this Champions League game, stopped 15 minutes later for a very sad reason, will become a milestone, ”said the specialist.

Used materials from Eurosport, Gazeta Sporturilor, Get French Football News, Deutsche Welle.