Manchester United star Anthony Elanga racist abuse investigation closed by UEFA
According to the statement put out by the federation (h/t The Athletic) [Subscription Required], UEFA have now closed the investigation involving racist abuse towards Manchester United star Anthony Elanga during international duty with Sweden.
The young Swede made his debut for the senior side of United at the end of last season and was later selected for his nation’s U-21 team. Since then, he has featured a couple of times in the famous yellow jersey, however, an unfortunate incident took place during last month’s international break.
The 19-year-old alleged that he received racist abuse from some Italian player when the two nations met on the 12th of October. UEFA immediately opened an investigation on the matter.
However, according to their recent statement, the investigation has now been dropped. The statement read (h/t The Athletic):
“Following the investigation carried out by the UEFA ethics and disciplinary inspector, a decision has been taken not to open any disciplinary proceedings.”
Following this, general counsel for the Swedish football association (SvFF), Tobias Tibell, made it clear that they will appeal against the decision made by UEFA.
“We regret that UEFA does not now choose to take this to its disciplinary committee. There is no doubt about what the player has perceived, and we will appeal the decision.”
Elanga also expressed his ‘disappointment’ after the investigation was dropped.
“I am of course very disappointed, I know what I heard and what happened. I hope the appeal can lead to something. I am grateful for the support I received from my teammates and the association.”
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Racist abuse is not an uncommon thing and Elanga is not the first United player to receive it this year. Marcus Rashford was also subject to similar comments by England fans after the centre-forward missed one of the important spot-kicks in the Euro final against Italy.
However, it remains to be seen what action UEFA take if and when the SvFF appeal against the decision, especially after they also reported the matter to the police post the incident. It is truly sad to see how matters of racism continue to be taken lightly by disciplinary bodies and hopefully, punishments in the future are swift, quick, and deserving of the appalling crime in question.
