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Why FIFA cannot sanction Spartak Moscow over racist tweet

World Football governing body, FIFA, has condemned Spartak Moscow over a racist tweet against its own players but say Russian FA is responsible for punishment.

Spartak Moscow posted a tweet on its official handle and captioned a video of some of its black players as “see how the chocolates melt in the sun” during a warm-weather training in Dubai.

“This social media post from the official account of Spartak Moscow only continues to highlight the prejudices towards black people in Russia.

“With the World Cup only a few months away, it is a reminder that Russia, as with the whole of football, has significant work to do to eradicate racism of all forms from the game,” said Kick It Out.

FIFA condemns the message published on Twitter account of Spartak Moscow. As said many times, any form of discrimination on or outside the field is unacceptable and has no place in football.

“As to the handling of this matter, this falls under the responsibility of the relevant National body.

“Please note that at its meeting in May 2017, the FIFA Council emphasised that member associations and referees should be ready to adopt a strict policy to deal with incidents of racist nature,” FIFA said.

The Russian Club is currently facing a UEFA complaint from Liverpool, over alleged racist abuse aimed at its striker, Rhian Brewster, during a U19 clash in December.

The club’s fans were also found guilty of abusing Liverpool’s Bobby Adekanye, during a Youth League fixture in Russia.

Punishing Spartak Moscow, whose responsibility?

Racist behaviour at the club has been cited in recent times.  Leonid Mironov, the club’s 19-year-old captain, was charged with alleged racist abuse of Liverpool’s Rhian Brewster during a UEFA Youth League game in December, although he denied making any racist comments.

UEFA also ruled that Spartak fans abused Liverpool striker Bobby Adekanye with monkey chants during another Youth League game.

Russian authorities have said it would crack down on hooliganism and racism for the World Cup, which starts with a match against Saudi Arabia in Moscow, on June 14.

Despite FIFA being the world’s football governing body, punishing Spartak Moscow appears to be the responsibility of the Russian FA as the offense committed involves a Russian club in the Russian League.

Disciplinary actions taken by UEFA involves two or more European Leagues, or in a UEFA competition like the UEFA Champions League. However, with various Leagues having independent FAs’ the responsibility lies on each FA to handle disciplinary issues in its various leagues.

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