Hungary fans racially abused England players during a World Cup qualifier game in Budapest
English players were booed for taking the knee to protest against racism before kickoff, despite Hungary head coach Marco Rossi asking fans to respect the gesture.
Manchester City striker Raheem Sterling and Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham were targeted with racist chants from the capacity crowd inside the 67,000 seater Puskas Arena.
Raheem Sterling was hit with paper cups and bottles after opening the scoring for England in the second half. A flare was also thrown on the pitch after Harry Maguire scored to seal the 3-0 win for the Three Lions.
The English football Association condemned the actions of the crowd as completely unacceptable.
“It is extremely disappointing to hear reports of discriminatory actions towards some of our England players,” the statement said.
“We will be asking Fifa to investigate the matter. We continue to support the players and staff in our collective determination to highlight and tackle discrimination in all its forms.”
England Manager Gareth Southgate was pelted with ice after the game. During his post match interview he said he’d heard reports of racism from the team.
“Everyone knows what we stand for as a team, and that’s completely unacceptable. It has been reported. Our head of security has spoken to the players and taken their statement. We will deal with it in the right channels,” Southgate said.
“I believe that people have been filmed and we have to hope it’s dealt with the right way.”
Hungary were forced to play 3 games behind closed doors after fans were found to have committed discriminatory behaviour at Euro 2020, and have had a number of incidents which have led to fines from FIFA.
English players previously received racist abuse in a match against Bulgaria in 2019, as well as in a match the same year against Montenegro.
By Parker McKenzie
