The CBF boasted of being “the first entity in the world” that in its regulations includes punishments to clubs for this reason
The rule includes acts committed by fans of a team
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) will punish teams that commit acts of racism with the loss of points, according to the league statute approved this Tuesday by the twenty clubs of the first division. In a statement, the CBF announced that “it will rigorously punish racist offenses” and noted that it is the first entity in the world that already contemplates in the competition regulations the possibility of “punishing a club sportingly in cases of racism.”
The measure approved by the first division clubs will be extended to the Brazil Cup, a tournament that brings together almost a hundred teams from different categories from the 27 states of the country and will begin on February 22. “The fight against racism is in a hurry. The measures have been discussed for a century and we never put them into practice,” said the president of the CBF, Ednaldo Rodrigues, quoted in the statement.
In addition to the sports sanction, “any act of racism or discrimination” will be notified to the Public Ministry (prosecutor’s office) and the Civil Police “so that the process does not die only in the sports sphere and the offenders are punished by law,” he added. Acts committed by fans are also contemplated within the measure that guarantees the loss of points for the offending team.
On January 11, the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, sanctioned the law that equates racial slander to racism, with an increase in the penalty for crimes committed in sporting or cultural events.
