Anti-discrimination group on PSG-Istanbul Basaksehir case: Accidental racism still racism

The Group H match in Paris was interrupted in the 16th minute. One of the decisions of the chief referee, Ovidiu Hategan, caused an emotional reaction on the bench of the Turkish club.

The referee asked an assistant for clarification, who pointed to Demba Ba, calling the player "negru".

One of the meanings of this word translated from Romanian is "black". Both teams eventually left the pitch.

The Union of European Football Associations announced that the game would be completed on December with other referees.

"Our colleagues at the Romanian state anti- discrimination body have confirmed it is racist in Romanian to refer to a player by using his race as an identifier. There is no ambiguity. This incident shows the need for much better training of match officials. Unintentional racism is still racism.

If officials cannot set the standards by their own behaviour they cannot be relied on to deal with racism on the pitch or in the stands. The walk off by both Basaksehir and PSG together lays down a marker in Europe. Many players are fed up with half measures to tackle racism and are more prepared than ever before to exercise their right to stop a match," FARE said.