FIFA President Gianni Infantino vowed to meet with Serie A side Pescara midfielder Sulley Muntari and Italian Football Federation (FIGC) President Carlo Tavecchio "after Italian football was marred last week by two separate incidents of racism," according to Jack O'Toole of the IRISH INDEPENDENT. Muntari, 32, was sent off against Cagliari on April 30 for a second yellow card after "leaving the game in protest following his complaints of racial abuse" to referee Daniele Minelli, while Juventus defender Mehdi Benatia was speaking in a live interview with Italian broadcaster Rai on Saturday when he "overheard someone racially abusing him over the radio earpiece he was wearing." The incidents prompted Infantino to call a meeting with Muntari and Tavecchio, with the FIFA president saying that he will fight "football's idiots" ahead of Thursday's FIFA Congress in Bahrain. He said, "Of course I will speak to Tavecchio, I will speak to Muntari as well ... we will work together. Unfortunately idiots, there are always idiots everywhere but we have to fight them. We have to work on the people" (IRISH INDEPENDENT, 5/9).
SANCTIONS POSSIBLE: The BBC's Richard Conway reported Italian football authorities "may face disciplinary action" over the treatment of Muntari. FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura said, "We have a committee in charge of monitoring this and the committee will take action. What matters is that the committee has to act and the sooner the better. I have my personal feelings on anybody that is treated like he has been treated, on the pitch and off the pitch but I'm not here for my personal matters. I'm here to make sure that FIFA takes, through the committee, the appropriate action for any single discriminatory action" (BBC, 5/9).
