Yaya Toure accuses Fifa of doing 'nothing' about racism in football

The Ivorian has urged the governing body to do more to combat racism

Callum Rice-Coates
Monday 28 October 2019 13:13 GMT
Comments
Yaya Toure has called on Uefa and Fifa to do more to tackle racism
Yaya Toure has called on Uefa and Fifa to do more to tackle racism

Former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has claimed Fifa “don’t care” about stamping out racism in football.

The 36-year-old was commenting following his Qingdao Huanghai side securing promotion to the Chinese Super League and in the aftermath of the racial abuse of England players in Bulgaria earlier this month.

And Toure insisted he would have walked off the pitch had he been in their position.

“This is a shame, why are you playing for England?” Toure said. “They are always talking, 'Blah, blah, blah', and what? Nothing changes.”

“People from Fifa don't care anyway because we've been talking about this, but it's still continuing. I don't want to say that I'm not concerned, I'm concerned.

“They have to be serious about it, players need to make serious moves about it otherwise they (the racists) will continue to do that. They have to get the players out of the field.”

Toure also observed the cultural differences between playing in China and Europe, having spent the last few months at Qingdao.

“It's been a nice experience because I've seen people with a different mentality from Europe -- the way to play football, the way they feel and their behaviour on the field,” he added.

“When I play in the stadiums, nobody boos me because I'm black, it's a different culture, they respect.

“In Europe, they respect nobody.”

The Ivorian does not expect to stay at Qingdao beyond the end of the season, but has stressed that he has no intention of retiring.

“I think I'll finish in December or January, then go, have another challenge,” he said.

“People are thinking that I'm done, but I'm not done yet.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in