Action not FIFA´s ´responsibility´ after condemning offensive Spartak tweet

FIFA has condemned a racially insensitive tweet posted to the official Twitter account of Spartak Moscow, but state taking action is the sole responsibility of the Russian Football Union (RFU).

A video was uploaded to the club’s social media page on Saturday that appeared to show Pedro Rocha, Fernando and Luiz Adriano – who are all black – performing stretches during their warm weather training camp in Dubai, accompanied by the caption: “See how chocolate melt [sic] in the sun”. The post was later deleted.

Piara Power, executive director at the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network, called it a “shocking level of ignorance” and highlighted the fact it has occurred in the same year Russia is due to host the World Cup.

FIFA is also criticised the upload, though it was swift to point out any potential sanctions fall under the RFU’s jurisdiction.

A FIFA spokesperson said: “FIFA condemns the message published on the Twitter account of Spartak Moscow. As said many times, any form of discrimination on or outside the field is unacceptable and has no place in football.

“As to the handling of this matter, this falls under the responsibility of the relevant national body.

“Please note that at its meeting in May 2017, the FIFA Council emphasized that member associations and referees should be ready to adopt a strict policy to deal with incidents of racist nature.

“Furthermore, it should also be noted that as from the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017, FIFA has adopted a three-step procedure in case of discriminatory incidents and also deploys anti-discrimination observers at all matches in official tournaments.”