Football Italia
·16 July 2024
Why UEFA can not investigate Como for Hwang Hee-chan remarks in Wolves friendly
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Football Italia
·16 July 2024
Premier League side Wolves announced their intention to make a formal complaint to UEFA over alleged racist remarks made towards South Korea international Hwang Hee-chan in a pre-season friendly on Monday night, however, the European governing body are unable to take any further action.
An unnamed Como defender allegedly made racist a racist comment to Hwang Hee-chan during a pre-season friendly against Wolves in Marbella on Monday evening.
Como have released a statement admitting that one of their players said: “Ignore him, he thinks he’s Jackie Chan,” but the club have insisted this was in reference to the player’s name and the fact that his teammates refer to him as ‘Channy’.
The incident sparked a series of unsavoury scenes on the pitch, which resulted in Wolves forward Daniel Podence being sent off for throwing a punch at one of the Como players.
Wolves coach Gary O’Neil said that he had given Hwang the option to either come off, or have the whole team walk off the field, but he rejected that offer in order to continue with the pre-season run-out.
The Premier League side noted after the game that they wished to raise a formal complaint with European football’s governing body, UEFA.
However, as Como vs. Wolves was a friendly, and not a UEFA-sanctioned fixture, the governing body have no jurisdiction over the events that unfolded.
A UEFA spokesperson told The Athletic: “The fight to eliminate racism, discrimination and intolerance from football is a major priority for our organisation.
“Discriminatory behaviour is not tolerated in UEFA’s competitions. Any such behaviour would fall under Article 14 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations.
“While UEFA will continue its fight to eliminate all forms of discrimination in football, the organisation’s disciplinary bodies can only take action for incidents that take place in UEFA competitions.”