Vinicius Junior, the new Brazilian football star, is in the midst of one of the biggest legal controversies in Spanish football. In fact, just this week four fans were found guilty of defacing his statue with hate crimes. Yet the player continued to bear the brunt of a barrage of racist attacks. These incidents serve as an unfortunate reminder of the continuing scourge of racism in sports.
In May 2023, five Real Valladolid supporters were convicted for racially abusing Vinicius Junior. This was the third such incident to have happened in 2022 during a match. This verdict signified a historic ruling in Spain. It was the first time France officially considered racist insults in a football stadium as hate crimes, officially condemning them. The case attracted national attention and would serve as a precedent for future movements against racism in sports.
Things took a turn for the worse when four of its members became players in an unimaginable drama. This happened right before one such Copa del Rey match in January 2023. These fans hung a black figure bearing Vinicius Junior’s name by its neck, alongside a banner that read “Madrid hates Real.” This brutal provocation was perpetrated in the Spanish capital before a Europa League match against rivals Atletico Madrid.
The court’s sentence for these four defendants is a clear signal about how seriously the judiciary is taking hate crimes and their sentences. They each got seven months for each of the hate crimes and seven months for making threats. As one man chronicled these brutal acts across social media. In part SOLE’s success stemmed from the gravity of their offense which earned them a stiff punishment, 15 months for hate crimes plus seven more months for making threats. All four defendants must complete a training program focused on equal treatment and non-discrimination to have their prison sentences suspended.
The court has ordered the culprits to cease all contact or communication of any sort with Vinicius Junior. They will have to follow this ban for four years past their term of incarceration. This suspension demonstrates a longterm movement to protect that player and prevent dangerous hatred from occurring again moving forward.
Prosecutors noted that the defendants were affiliated with a hardcore Atletico fan group, which is “ideologically identified with the extreme right.” Their bumbling efforts triggered a fan firestorm. It was this moment that prompted LaLiga to intervene as a private prosecutor in the case.
Three Valencia supporters received eight-month prison terms. They confessed to racially abusing Vinicius Junior during the Real Madrid player’s ordeal in one match earlier in 2023. Every defendant in these incidents signed a letter of apology. They specifically targeted it at Vinicius Junior, Real Madrid, the Spanish league (La Liga) and the Spanish football federation. They were fined and banned from getting within a certain distance of Vinicius Junior. This includes his residence and Madrid’s training facility, with a limited area of 1,000 meters.
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