Sport/ basketball: Monkey cries at a match in Spain
Nadir HIFI of Paris during the EuroCup match between Paris Basketball and Hapoel Tel Aviv at Halle Georges-Carpentier on November 8, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Anthony Dibon/Icon Sport) Anthony Dibon / LP / Icon Sport
The Parisian team’s point guard explained that he experienced racist chants during a EuroCup match on Tuesday night.
«On their official X account, Paris Basket described it as «a hostile arena that ended in silence», summarizing their team’s great victory in Badalona, Spain, on Tuesday night in the EuroCup. It’s another win for the Parisian team, marking their seventh consecutive victory across all competitions. However, during this ‘hostile’ end to the match, French club’s point guard Nadir Hifi condemned the racist behavior of a portion of the Spanish audience».
He particularly mentioned hearing racist chants coming from the stands: «’I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Monkey chants during our match in Badalona… It’s 2023 and nothing seems to change; it’s very serious» he expressed emotionally.
Responding to this, his Swiss teammate Michael Kessens also expressed his anger. «I don’t know what’s worse: the racist behavior of the Badalona fans or the fact that the same nonsense happens every year without anything changing. This cowardly behavior of fans who think it’s acceptable and normal. Will EuroCup do something about it»?
The Badalona club, located in the province of Barcelona, has previously faced criticism for incidents of racism in its stands. In February 2023, a woman was filmed live mimicking a monkey towards a player from a German team during another EuroCup match. More broadly, the issue of racist chants in Spain gained attention last year around the case of Vinicius, who was regularly targeted by Liga audiences in Spanish football.
Pascal Amstrong
