Soccer, known outside of the U.S. as football, has always been a widely-appreciated sport, composed of a large variety of nationalities, languages and cultures. However, no matter how diverse the game has become or how much it has developed over the last century, racism is still a major problem on and off the field. Racism will continue to disrupt the well-being of players until more fans and players support those who are speaking out against prejudice and inequality.

The sheer volume of racial abuse within the sport has increased dramatically in the last few years. Between the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons, British anti-discrimination organization Kick It Out reported a 43% increase in hate speech at games, rising from 192 to 274 incidents.

Throughout Europe, and especially in the Italian football league known as Serie A, racist “monkey” chants along with spectators throwing banana peels onto the field have been going on during games since the 1970s and ‘80s. Another example includes the Nazi salutes in Bulgaria that occured when the Bulgarian team hosted England last fall. Through racist chants, the superiority complex of some groups of white Europeans has come to light. Danny Rose, a black player for Tottenham Hotspur and a defender for the English National Team, has said that he looks forward to his retirement and was reluctant to bring his family to the 2018 World Cup in Russia because he feared abuse. Players like Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford and Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham have even received racist abuse from fans after missing penalty kicks.

There is a three-step process regulated by FIFA for handling incidents sparked by fans during matches, although its effectiveness is hotly disputed. Referees are first required to stop the match once something is reported to them and issue a warning over the PA system. Then, if abuse continues, they must suspend the match and release players to the locker rooms, followed by a definitive cancellation of the match if problems don’t stop.

One team with the most consistent record of verbal abuse by fans in Serie A is Cagliari. The rosters of many Serie A teams have few to no non-white players, and most players within that minority have faced verbal abuse from Cagliari fans. The two biggest targets are black players Moise Kean and Romelu Lukaku, who play for Everton in England and Belgium and International Milan, respectively. Kean, who was a victim of racist chanting after scoring against Cagliari and facing fans, received backlash from his coach Massimiliano Allegri and teammate Leonardo Bonucci, both of whom claimed it was partially Kean’s fault for angering the crowd. This pattern of unfair abuse was continued by Cagliari’s fans chants at Lukaku as he stepped up to take a penalty kick, which they said was out of respect and fear that he might score against Cagliari. Lukaku, now a superstar in Italy, scored the penalty kick in the face of hostility and released a statement saying that FIFA shouldn’t tolerate any discrimination towards players.

Ghanian-Italian forward Mario Balotelli, who has faced extreme discrimination throughout his career, returned to Italy to play for Brescia this season and took a stand against racist chanting during Brescia’s 2-1 loss at Hellas Verona. After punting the ball into the stands in protest, he was supported by players from both teams, whom he thanked later on social media while shaming the chanting fans. Just like Lukaku, he silenced racist fans by scoring a brilliant goal late into the second half. After the game, though, Verona owner Maurizio Setti said that “racism among Verona fans does not exist” and was backed up by Coach Ivan Juric who stated that the fans were chanting during the game, but only in a non-racialized, competitive nature. As if this conduct wasn’t bad enough, the head of an ultra fan group in Verona, Luca Castellini, said that fans couldn’t be racist because Verona has a black player and they applauded him when he scored.

Serie A addressed its issues of racism by announcing a campaign with three racist monkey paintings made by Italian artist Simone Fugazzotto, which he defended by saying that he had good intentions. The league’s best option in the face of public scrutiny is to follow through with the idea of an anti-racism team that would be composed of one player from each club, dedicated to the cause throughout the season.

Besides Balotelli and Lukaku, Senegal and Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly is another important figure calling out racism in Italy. In repeated incidents, he was verbally abused by his own team’s fans and said that he was shocked after suffering further abuse during a game against Inter in Milan. Koulibaly, who grew up in the diverse community of Saint Die-des-Vosges in France has said that the larger problem of racism will be resolved only if more players take action.

Raheem Sterling, who plays as a winger for Manchester City and England, is one of the most outspoken voices in the fight against racism in football. But, like Koulibaly, he has been on his own for the most part. In April 2019, he won the Integrity and Impact Award, and in his speech he talked about looking up to Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard and wanting to inspire a new generation of players.

One of Sterling’s most public criticisms, though roughly two years ago, was the difference between headlines of two similar Daily Mail stories about his teammates. Phil Foden, who is white, and Tosin Adarabioyo, who is black, both bought expensive houses after acquiring money from their first contracts, but their articles stood in stark contrast. Foden’s headline read “Manchester City starlet Phil Foden buys new 2m home for his mum,” while Adarabioyo’s headline was “Young Manchester City footballer, 20, on 25,000 a week splashes out on mansion on market for 2.25 million despite having never started a Premier League match.” Sterling responded on an Instagram post stating that this was unacceptable and that the difference in phrasing fuels racist behavior.

One of Sterling’s proposed solutions is that teams should be deducted nine points in the league standings if their fans make racist remarks during games in order for fans to actually feel consequences. Currently, the only punishments are stadium bans for racist fans and this doesn’t work as a preventative measure. Few new ideas about how to combat racism intrinsic to some fans have reached FIFA’s top executives, which feminist writer and podcast host Shireen Ahmed attributes to the lack of diversity in top executive positions. Even in coaching demographics in England’s top four leagues, the presence of only six black coaches out of 92 teams reflects this lack of diversity and representation. All players, regardless of race, must stand together and demand accountability and change from top executives and fans alike, and FIFA itself must work to recruit and hire more diverse coaches and executives to reflect the game’s demographics accurately