Photo: Norilsk Nickel press service
Brazilian futsal player Nando walked off pitch midway through a match in the western Siberian city of Novosibirsk after racist chants were directed at him from the crowd, his club Norilsk Nickel said on Thursday.
Belo Horizonte native Nando, 37, whose real name is Leandro Henrique Cypriano Catarino de Jesus, has played for various Russian futsal teams since 2012, as the popularity of the game, which is similar to football but is played indoors on a much smaller pitch, has grown.
Footage of the match between Norilsk Nickel and home side Sibiryak showed a visibly upset Nando, who had scored two goals earlier on in the game, walking off the pitch as his teammates attempted to calm him down.
According to Norilsk Nickel, a group of “active” Sibiryak fans began shouting insults at Nando as their team stumbled against the visitors. “Without going into details, we can confidently say that this was a manifestation of racism,” the club said.
Norilsk Nickel condemned the fans’ behaviour, stressing that people “suffering from racial and other prejudices should have nothing to do with futsal and sport in general”.
The team called on the Russian Football Union, whose remit included futsal matches, to take “decisive measures to ensure that such incidents do not happen again in the future”. Responding in a statement on Thursday, the Russian Futsal Super League declared a “zero tolerance” policy for “any signs of discrimination” against players and said it would pass on the findings of their investigation into the incident to the Russian Football Union.
Sibiryak also issued a statement condemning the incident on Friday saying the club considered “all manifestations of aggression and racism … unacceptable in any form”, adding that it would conduct an internal review and meet with the fans to clarify the situation.
The regional Interior Ministry said on Friday that the Novosibirsk police would also be carrying out an inquiry into the behaviour of Sibiryak fans during the match.
