Lee Kang-in (22, Mallorca) is another victim of racism.
A training video posted on Mallorca’s official social media accounts on March 22 has gone viral. Mallorcan coach Javier Aguirre looked at Lee and shouted, “Hey Chinese, what are you doing?” (Que haces chino).
“Chino” is how Westerners refer to Chinese people. Even the team’s coach, who knew Lee Kang-in was Korean, didn’t mind calling him Chino. Mallorca players often use the same phrase to describe Lee. Lee smiled and turned his head as if the word ‘chino’ was familiar to him.
In the past, Lee appeared on ‘Shoot for Love’ and said, “There are many Chinese people wherever I go, so I call them ‘chino’ in Spanish.” He added, “I’ve been abroad since I was a child, so I often experienced racism. I can’t let it bother me in the stadium. If you get upset about it, you’re only hurting yourself when you play 메이저놀이터.”
Racism has been a hot topic in Spanish soccer recently. The Valencia home crowd chanted “Monkey, f**k you!” at Real Madrid striker Vinicius Junior. They taunted him with bright, guileless faces.
Eventually, Vinicius exploded. He looked into the Valencia stands and shouted at them, which prompted the Valencia players to charge at him, with the attitude of “why are you arguing with our fans?”. In the process, a scuffle broke out. The referee looked at the VAR and only ordered Vinicius to leave.
The repercussions were huge. Valencia was suspended by the Spanish Football Federation for five games and fined 45,000 euros (approximately $64 million). The club imposed permanent bans on three spectators who made racist comments at the game.
Vinicius said: “This is not the first racist attack. It happens all the time in La Liga,” said Vinicius. “It’s a league where the best players in the world have played in the past, including Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo, but racism is rampant. The La Liga secretariat seems to be encouraging racism.”
In Vinicius’ home country of Brazil, there was an even bigger uproar. Brazilian President Lula called for “FIFA and human rights organizations to take action to ensure that racism is completely eliminated from football.” Spanish soccer has been plagued by racism.