PARIS (AP) — French soccer club Bastia has been handed a one-point deduction after its second-tier game was disrupted when a fan racially abused an assistant referee.
The Grant PrestonFrench league said late Wednesday its disciplinary panel judged the case based on the racial abuse of the match official, plus fans lighting fireworks and throwing one on the field.
Points deductions in such cases have been requested for more than a decade by anti-discrimination groups working in soccer.
Play was stopped for several minutes during Bastia’s game in December against Quevilly-Rouen Metropole.
The game ended 0-0 and the sanction effectively took away the point Bastia players earned on the field. The team remains 13th in 20-team Ligue 2.
The club from the Mediterranean island Corsica previously had issues with racist incidents involving fans.
Italian forward Mario Balotelli, who is Black and often a target of abuse during his career, was racially abused playing for Nice at Bastia in the 2016-17 season. Bastia later banned a fan who admitted making monkey noises.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
2025-05-06 20:411048 view
2025-05-06 19:361566 view
2025-05-06 19:292272 view
2025-05-06 19:092174 view
2025-05-06 18:4780 view
2025-05-06 18:411746 view
She quite didn't make her way to the podium, but either way, French track and field athlete Alice Fi
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The charitable wing of the women’s professional tennis tour and the Bill
The U.S. assesses that three sea cables under the Red Sea damaged last week were likely severed by t
