Missing a sentence and advising their families not to come home

During the World Cup in Qatar, more than 300 players encountered online hate messages ranging from violent fantasies to sexism and racism, threats to family members and homophobia. This is evidenced by an analysis conducted by Fifa and player organisation, Fifpro.

Both organizations have developed special programs in advance. Within four weeks, it intercepted nearly half a million negative messages, mostly on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Almost 300,000 of it have been removed. About 20 thousand people turned out to be irrefutably disliked.

All participating teams (32), referee members (129), and all national players and coaches (864) were able to install software that automatically filters out negative feedback. Not everyone did. KNVB has chosen its own specialists and programmes. But even in the event of a refusal, Fifa and Fifpro used the software to analyze all the responses received on those accounts. Tennis tournament Roland Garros also made similar programs available without obligation last month. Many tennis players never used it or didn’t even know about it.

Hate messages especially in the knockout stage

In the World Cup, hate mail has increased especially in the knockout stage, which often causes the most tension. In the all-or-nothing rounds, players are given dire warnings not to return to their home country, as well as their families, among other things. Players who played poorly or missed a penalty kick were particularly targeted.

Finalists France lost, with many black players, who suffered the most, mainly through racist and sexist messages. Brazil and England followed. It is also remarkable that the Mexican national team received twice as many negative messages as the team’s opponents.

The insults received by football players have been a topic of discussion for a long time. Real Madrid recently filed a hate speech report after their Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior was subjected to racist chants for the umpteenth time.

Eleven categories of insults

FIFA and Fifpro compared the reactions in Qatar, among others, to those who took part in the battle for the African Cup and the European Championship, a year ago. At the World Cup, the insult palette turned out to be much more diverse. At the African Cup and European Championships, more than three-quarters of the negative reactions consisted of racism and homophobia. In Qatar, FIFA has defined no less than eleven different categories.

These messages came from more than 12,000 accounts, three-quarters of which were from Europe and South America. Of these accounts, 1189 went so far as to break the law. FIFA has identified the identity of the 304 manager. The people behind 447 other accounts can “likely” be traced back to the Football Association. Therefore, a significant part of these transgressions do not seem to go unpunished.

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