By Muhammad Sabiu
Police have made 11 arrests in the UK over racial abuses made against the three Black England players who missed the penalty shoot-out in the final match of the Euro 2020 against Italy in July.
The three players (Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho) suffered racial abuses online.
According to the UK Football Policing Unit, of the 207 online posts identified as criminal, 123 accounts belong to persons outside the UK.
Details of those individuals and cases are in the process of being passed on to the relevant countries to take action
“There are people out there who believe they can hide behind a social media profile and get away with posting such abhorrent comments.
“They need to think again – we have investigators proactively seeking out abusive comments in connection to the match if they meet a criminal threshold, those posting them will be arrested,” Chief Constable Mark Roberts, National Police Chiefs’ Council Football Policing lead, has said.
The Football Association says that it would “not tolerate any form of discrimination, and we hope these arrests act as a clear deterrent for perpetrators for online abuse.
“We will continue to work with players, fans, our stakeholders across the game and the relevant authorities to ensure that the strongest possible action is taken against those found wanting.”