African player in Iran suffers racist abuse

DPA - An African playing in the Iranian premier football league was a victim of racist abuse during a league match, ISNA news agency reported Monday. Issa Andoei, a Senegalese goalkeeper who plays for Zob Ahan Isfahan, was on the receiving end of abusive chants such as "Hey Nigger" from fans supporting the home team Mess Kerman during a match Sunday, ISNA said.

The press department of Zob Ahan confirmed the ISNA report in a telephone contact and club chief Saaid Azari said that similar chants were directed against the team's other African player from Ghana, Martin-Mohammad Mensah.

"I have heard what they said. What can I do? They say such things and I cannot change their mind anyway so I'd rather focus on just playing football," said Andoei, who is familiar with the Persian language and therefore understood the abuse.

Several black African players have in the recent years joined Iranian football teams and been quite successful.

So far no racist incidents had been reported but ISNA said that, recently, insulting slogans against black players have gradually started being heard in stadiums.

Zob Ahan has already protested to the disciplinary committee of the Iranian Football Federation (FFI) and demanded stern action be taken against the Mess Kerman team.

The head of the FFI disciplinary committee has vowed to severely punish Kerman, a team situated in south-eastern Iran, if the charges were confirmed by the relevant observer teams at the stadium.

According to FFI rules, in case of racist slogans the host team should be punished with heavy fines or exclusion of spectators for one or several home games.