Video Shows Chelsea Soccer Fans in Racist Behavior

Video footage showing white fans of the English soccer club Chelsea shoving a black subway rider in Paris has revived concerns about racism in what is often labeled “the beautiful game.”

The incident occurred on Tuesday, a day after a former national soccer coach in Italy sparked outrage after video emerged of his complaining about too many “colored players” in the youth ranks of Italian clubs.

Amateur video footage shown on British news websites depicted a group of Chelsea supporters pushing a black man and preventing him from boarding a packed metro train at the Richelieu-Drouot station in central Paris on Tuesday. The fans could also be heard chanting, “We’re racist, we’re racist and that’s the way we like it.”

The footage from Paris emerged a day after Arrigo Sacchi, who coached Italy to the final of the 1994 World Cup in the United States, was captured on video complaining that the presence of a large number of foreigners in the junior ranks of Italy’s professional clubs was hindering the development of young Italian players.

“To see so many colored players, to see so many foreigners, is an insult to Italian soccer,” he said.

Laure Fourquet contributed reporting from Paris.

The New York Times