The international outrage that turned into a political crisis between Madrid and Brasilia, due to repeated racist abuse directed at Brazilian Vinicius Jr. (Real Madrid striker), was a slap in the face to La Liga officials.

Following Europe's most famous football leagues, we review the most prominent incidents and do not exaggerate if we say racist "scandals" since the beginning of the 21st century in the leagues of Spain, England, France, Italy and Spain.

Monkey sounds and other racist chants from Bastia fans against Mario Balotelli during a match with his team Nice in the French league pic.twitter.com/huQXFlcNyC

— Coach (@Coach_Khaled0) May 22, 2023

La Liga

La Liga has long been the scene of hateful racism scandals over the past decades and many stars have complained about it, including Cameroonian former Barcelona star Samuel Eto'o.

Vinicius Jr.

Vinicius described La Liga as "racist sponsored by a federation that finds this situation normal" The Brazilian star had been subjected to several racist situations, before the incident Valencia match this week, where it was preceded by the finding, last January, a doll wearing a shirt Vinicius hanged on a bridge in the capital, Madrid.

⏯️ Details of what happened with Vinicius in the Valencia match

▪️ Abdulaziz Al-Sulaiti: A full season and Vinicius is subjected to racism.

▪️ Haitham Farouk: Vinicius injustice today #La Liga | #فالنسيا_ريال_مدريد #LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/rLzqFSQA3l

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) May 22, 2023

Neymar

In another incident in which the Brazilian government intervened, Neymar complained in 2020 about racist abuse and being called a "monkey" by Spaniard Alvaro Gonzalez, in a match in which the Brazilian star was playing for Barcelona in La Liga, which Gonzalez denied.

Mukhtar Dikhabi

In April 2021, Valencia's Guinean Diakhabi accused his Cádiz rival Juan Cala of hurling racist insults at him, and the incident caused the match between them to stop for some minutes, only to resume after that, but without Diajabi.

Iñaki Williams

The racist chants against former Atletico Bilbao player Williams in January 2020 were behind the start of the first xenophobic crime trial in Spanish football, with a single fan charged in a case that is still pending.

Danny Alves

One of the most entrenched facts in the minds was when Villarreal fans threw bananas at Brazilian Dani Alves in 2014, known as the "banana of racism".

Villarreal's fans were racist with Dani and deleted a banana on him, his reaction was very calm, he peeled and ate it, then he continued playing.

This dealing kills racism 🤝
pic.twitter.com/TxQFrMg4OL

🔰 — (@2x_xc) May 21, 2023

Felix Deja Etienne

Ivorian Deja Etien suffered repeated racist abuse during his time playing with Levante (from 1997 to 2008) and was ignored by the coach because he could not speak Spanish, and was accused of malaria and AIDS, and each time his club reported that he was sick and could not play.

French League

Persecution of Muslim Players

Racism in the French league has largely targeted players of Arab and African descent, most recently in May, when Sports Minister Amelie Odea Castera called for sanctions against footballers who refused to wear shirts supporting gays: Egypt's Mostafa Mohamed, Morocco's Zakaria Abou Khalal, Algeria's Fares Chaibi, Bosnia's Said Hamolić, Mali's Moussa Diarra.

Islam Soleimani

In 2022, Algerian Islam Slimani said that Clairmo captain Johann Justin insulted him and mocked his Arab origins.

Coach Christophe Galtier

At the beginning of 2023, accusations of racism were leveled against French coach Christophe Galtier, against the backdrop of reports that he denounced the presence of a large number of Muslims and Africans in the French league.

The incident dates back to 2022 when he was coaching Nice and described it as "a scum team where there are only blacks and half of them in the mosque on Fridays."

Benoit Aso Akotto

Cameroon defender Akkoto attributed the failure to represent France in 2014 to the French press's "abhorrent racism" towards Muslim and black players.

In 2011, a "racial scandal" rocked French football linked to players of African and Arab descent, with statements by the coach of the national team, at the time, Laurent Blanc, in which he said that he supported "limiting the number of dual players" in junior training centers.

2014 FIFA World Cup champion Mesut Ozil has announced his retirement from the German national team. pic.twitter.com/GLKfhbcQHj

— FIFA 🏆 World Cup (@fifaworldcup_ar) July 22, 2018

Bundesliga

Mesut Ozil

Ozil, who is of Turkish descent, has not been spared racism in Germany, prompting him to retire from international football in 2018 due to what he described as "racism and disrespect" within German football.

Ozil said he had received hate messages and threats, and blamed the Manchaft's disappointing World Cup performance in Russia even though most of the players were substandard.

Mesut Ozil retires one of the best playmakers in recent years, we remember a bit of what he was doing in the Clásico matches

pic.twitter.com/L5BB17od3Y

— Abu Turki (@Zezo_rmd) March 22, 2023

Son Heung-min

The South Korean national team player revealed in 2022 that he suffered from crowd racism while playing in the Bundesliga between 2008 and 2015.

English Premier League

Evan Tony

Englishman Tony was subjected to a number of "racist and offensive messages" on social media in February 2023. A year ago, the same player was the target of racist abuse during a match, but at the time it affected his family.

Thierry Henry

French star Thierry Henry (former Arsenal striker) decided in 2021 to withdraw from all social media, due to racism and cross-platform bullying.

Marcus Rashford

In January 2021, Manchester United striker Rashford said he had experienced "the worst of humanity and the worst of what social media has to offer" after being subjected to racist abuse.

Serie A

Samuel Umtiti

In January 2023, a Frenchman of Cameroonian origin Umtiti, on loan from Barcelona to Lecce, was racially abused against. European newspapers reported that he left the stadium after the end of the match in tears, after suffering and his Zambian teammate Lamek Banda from racist chants chanted by Lazio fans.

One of the talents most lost to the chants in football stadiums was Mario Balotelli of the Golden Boy 2010 and the first Italy striker in a previous period!

Balotelli tears due to the cheers of the Napoli fans!pic.twitter.com/obRips7yfV

— Coach (@Coach_Khaled0) May 22, 2023

Mario Balotelli

Mario Balotelli, the first black player to join the Italian national team in 2010, was an example of fan racism and was the victim of a barrage of insults including "there are no black Italians".

Balotelli has never been to any club without many incidents of racism, including monkey sounds and racist chants against him during his time playing for Nice in the French league.

Romelu Lukaku

In April, Inter Milan's black Belgian player Lukaku was subjected to racist insults from Juventus fans, but was fired after responding to the abuse by putting his finger over his mouth and asking them to remain silent and then quarrel with the players, a repeat of what happened with Ghanaian Sully at Muntari in May 2017.

African players

Three players were subjected to racist chants at a Serie A match in 3, namely Nigeria's Victor Osimen, Senegal's Kalidou Koulibaly, and Cameroon's André Anguisa, as Fiorentina fans imitated monkey sounds to mock them.

Absence of deterrent punishment

Wajdi Bousarsar, a technical expert in the development department of the Qatar Football Association, says to Al Jazeera Net that the absence of deterrent punishment is the one that feeds the racism of the masses and makes them brutal and pollute the space of sportsmanship welcoming football stadiums, indicating his words that the English Premier League has become the least European championships in terms of racism because they faced any departure from the sportsmanship or racist behavior with deterrent penalties, whether on the fans or one of the elements of the game.

Africans, Muslims and black people in general are often the victims of racism in European stadiums, and Boussarsar explains this phenomenon, saying that bigotry and shallowness of the culture of some fans make them look at them with condescension and motivation, and quickly call them the worst words for any reason and even without reason sometimes as a result of the fact that they secure deterrent punishment that currently exists only in English stadiums.