Blatter praises club ban in Brazil after racism - SFGate: "I've said football MUST be stronger in tackling racism," Blatter said on Twitter. "Brazil has sent the right message, banning a team from the Cup due to 'fans'�abuse."
Wednesday's unprecedented ruling against a top Brazilian team came less than a week after a small group of Gremio fans called Santos goalkeeper Aranha a "monkey" and were caught on camera making monkey noises toward the player at the Arena Gremio in the southern city of Porto�Alegre.
FIFA has been constantly promoting anti-racism campaigns and condemning acts of discrimination in football across the world, though it has not always been directly involved in handing out punishment to those involved in racial�abuse.
After a series of incidents of racism in Brazil earlier this year, Blatter and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said the World Cup in Brazil would take a stand against discrimination, though Blatter later acknowledged he was "not at all happy with the way we fought against racism" during the�tournament.
Brazil's sports tribunal voted unanimous to exclude Gremio from the Brazilian Cup, the nation's second-most important competition behind the Brazilian league. The tribunal also fined the team coached by Luiz Felipe Scolari more than $20,000 and said fans identified as responsible for the insults will be banned from attending matches for two�years.
A young woman caught by cameras yelling "monkey" from the stands was interrogated by police on Thursday and claimed she didn't intend to insult Aranha. According to Cleber Ferreira, the police investigator in charge of the case, the 23-year-old woman said she was just chanting randomly and not directly at the black�goalkeeper.
Wednesday's unprecedented ruling against a top Brazilian team came less than a week after a small group of Gremio fans called Santos goalkeeper Aranha a "monkey" and were caught on camera making monkey noises toward the player at the Arena Gremio in the southern city of Porto�Alegre.
FIFA has been constantly promoting anti-racism campaigns and condemning acts of discrimination in football across the world, though it has not always been directly involved in handing out punishment to those involved in racial�abuse.
After a series of incidents of racism in Brazil earlier this year, Blatter and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said the World Cup in Brazil would take a stand against discrimination, though Blatter later acknowledged he was "not at all happy with the way we fought against racism" during the�tournament.
Brazil's sports tribunal voted unanimous to exclude Gremio from the Brazilian Cup, the nation's second-most important competition behind the Brazilian league. The tribunal also fined the team coached by Luiz Felipe Scolari more than $20,000 and said fans identified as responsible for the insults will be banned from attending matches for two�years.
A young woman caught by cameras yelling "monkey" from the stands was interrogated by police on Thursday and claimed she didn't intend to insult Aranha. According to Cleber Ferreira, the police investigator in charge of the case, the 23-year-old woman said she was just chanting randomly and not directly at the black�goalkeeper.