SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The Korean Football Association has filed an official complaint with FIFA over an alleged racist remark directed at Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Hwang Hee-chan during a recent preseason match in Spain.
KFA’s complaint comes after Hwang, a South Korean player, reported being subjected to an anti-Asian remark during Monday’s match against Italian club Como. Hwang reported the incident during the second half, leading to angry responses from his teammates, including Daniel Podence, who was sent off for punching a Como player.
“In an official letter sent to FIFA on July 18, the Korea Football Association expressed its grave concern over the racist abuse that Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) suffered from an opposing player during a recent practice match and requested that FIFA further strengthen sanctions against the perpetrators to prevent and eradicate racism on the football field,” the association said on its official X account.
Wolves’ head coach has said Hwang has “the full support of the Wolves group.”
Como defended the accused player, who hasn't been named, stating that he didn’t say anything derogatory and only referred to Hwang as “Jackie Chan,” a widely known Hong Kong star known for his kung fu action films.
In a statement posted on Como’s official X account Tuesday, Mirwan Suwarso, the ownership group’s official representative, said: “Our club does not tolerate racism and condemns all forms of it in the strongest possible way,” but added that one of their players made a Jackie Chan comment based on Wolves players referring to Hwang as “Channy.”
Former France star Thierry Henry — who is now the coach of the French Olympic team — and former Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas are both minority shareholders in Como, which was promoted to Serie A at the end of last season.
The incident made headlines in South Korea, with local news outlets, including South Korea’s mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo newspaper and major television networks reporting extensively.
Hwang addressed the incident on his Instagram, stating: “Racism is intolerable in sports and in all aspects of life,” drawing supportive comments from soccer players, local celebrities, and fans from around the world.
The Korean Football Association’s complaint marks the first time it has officially addressed FIFA regarding racial abuse of South Korean players abroad. The Association is calling for stronger sanctions to combat racism in soccer.
It comes after a week when the French soccer federation also pledged to file a complaint with FIFA over “racist and discriminatory remarks” by Argentina players in post-match chants about France’s team after their Copa America title win. Gibraltar’s soccer federation also said Tuesday it is taking legal advice about Spain players’ “extremely provocative and insulting” chants at a welcome home party for the European Championship title winner.
It’s not the first time South Korean players have suffered racist abuse playing in the European leagues.
Tottenham player Son Heung-min repeatedly faced racial abuse on and off the field throughout his career outside of South Korea.
In 2022, Son spoke of facing “lots of racism” as a young soccer player in Germany. Tottenham called on social media companies to take action after Son was subjected to ” utterly reprehensible " online racist abuse in February 2023.
In June, Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur apologized to teammate Son Heung-min for making an offensive comment about South Koreans when he said they more or less look “all the same” on a Uruguayan television show.
Bentacur later apologized on Instagram, stating, “It was just a very bad joke!”
Kick it Out, an anti-discrimination charity, said it has received a “significant number” of complaints about Bentancur’s comments.
“We recognize Bentancur has acknowledged the offense caused, however it highlights a wider issue that heavily affects East Asian and wider communities,” the organization stated. Tottenham subsequently released a statement stating: “We fully support that our captain Sonny feels that he can draw a line under the incident and that the team can focus on the new season ahead."
Lee Jae-sung, a South Korean midfielder playing for Bundesliga club Mainz in Germany, wrote about facing racial abuse in Germany.
“It’s hurtful to me, but to them, it’s just a cheap joke. ... When I heard racist comments, especially when I’m in a group of colleagues, I just wanted to run away,” Lee wrote on his blog in 2022.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Wolverhampton Wanderers' Hwang Hee-chan attends the English Premier League soccer match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal in Wolverhampton, England, on April 20, 2024. Italian soccer team Como has defended a player who allegedly said Wolves’ South Korean forward Hee Chan Hwang “thinks he’s Jackie Chan” during a pre-season game on Monday. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira, File)
BRUSSELS (AP) — At first glance, the European Union may seem like a paragon of gender equality — what with Ursula von der Leyen heading the all-important executive branch. Still, all the talk this week is about an excess of men poised for top positions at the EU headquarters.
Not that von der Leyen, the first woman to hold the position as European Commission president, would want anything other than full gender parity in the body that runs the day-to-day business of the world's biggest trading bloc of 450 million people.
“One of its key objectives is achieving gender balance in decision-making,” the strategy of von der Leyen's outgoing European Commission boldly proclaimed. Her office was “committed to lead by example, with the first female Commission president selected in 2019, and the first gender-balanced College of Commissioners during this time.”
When it comes to gender issues, the 27-nation EU is often seen as perhaps the most progressive grouping of countries in the world, leaving other nations and continents in its wake where the dominance of men in political institutions is still the order of the day.
So it makes it especially galling for von der Leyen, who is setting up the team for her second five-year mandate, that her hands are tied and she can't independently pick her commissioners. In her first five-year term, there was near gender parity among EU commissioners.
In her offices overlooking the Brussels skyline, she sometimes holds court underneath a massive picture of the founding fathers of the current-day EU meeting in Rome in 1957 — they're men as far as the camera lens could see.
Until the late 1980s, it remained an exclusive boy's club before women shattered the institutional ceiling.
But von der Leyen is beholden to the EU's complicated rules that allow every member nation to put forward a commissioner. And while von der Leyen asked them to field a male and female candidate to make her job picking the right politician for each portfolio easier, all too many member states have flat out ignored her since they have the law, if not politics, on their side.
Often, the pick depends on strictly national politics that gives one party the right one year, and another the right the next time. If not governments, parliaments can also get involved — making life even more difficult. The quality of available people also matters. And nations can also ignore her for whatever whim or reason.
There are member states like Ireland that say they have used their full rights to put the best person forward. In Ireland's case, a man — namely their finance minister, Michael McGrath.
“We’ve put forward a very high caliber nominee, that’s to me is the most important criterion,” said Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin.
Von der Leyen at first started out with 21 men on the list, which would make for a male dominated European Commission — the extent of which has not been seen in more than two decades — and she has been working to get that figure down.
The EU, on the other hand, will have women as president of the European Parliament — Roberta Metsola of Malta — and as foreign policy chief — Kaja Kallas from Estonia.
“The president has been very clear in what her ambition is, which is a gender balance college," European Commission spokesperson Arianna Podesta said. "She is doing everything in her powers to have a gender-balanced college for the next mandate. She is, of course, in constant touch with the leaders of all member states.”
And late Monday, she got some good news from the last holdout nation, Belgium. It ditched outgoing Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders, who was bent on returning, and picked Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib to bring the balance to a potential 17-10.
Once von der Leyen completes the mix and match of political group, nation and post, the full list goes to the European Parliament where each prospective commissioner can still be rejected by lawmakers. There is no set date for when a vote will happen, but debate will continue for most of September.
File - Incoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
File - Incoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a media conference to unveil her European Commission candidates team at EU headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
File - From left, European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms Elisa Ferreira, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli and European Commissioner for Europe fit for the Digital Age Margrethe Vestager speak with each other during the weekly College of Commissioners meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, June 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
File - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, second right, speaks with from left, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton and European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi during a meeting of the College of Commissioners at EU headquarters in Brussels, Friday, June 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)
File - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, center, arrives for the weekly College of Commissioners meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Sept. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
