‘It’s unfair’ – Rio Ferdinand fears England stars will be racially abused during World Cup

Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were racially abused at Euro 2020 (Picture: Getty)

Rio Ferdinand expects England stars to be racially abused during the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.

Despite attempts to eradicate and reduce racism within football, the issue is still widespread both overtly and institutionally in the sport.

Following the Euro 2020 final, England trio Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho were all overtly racially abused on social media.

That came after they missed penalties in the Three Lions’ shootout defeat to Italy, with a mural of Rashford in Manchester also vandalised with abuse.

England players also sometimes still face boos and jeers for taking the knee before matches, which is an anti-racism gesture made famous by NFL star Colin Kaepernick that later became associated with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Institutional racism, which is different from overt racism, also remains a huge problem in football with a lack of BAME (Black and Minority Ethnic) managers, board members and owners across the game.

British rapper, singer and songwriter Stormzy recently launched a new football programme called Merky FC to address institutional racism within the sport.

‘I honestly think it probably will happen again [players will be overtly racially abused],’ Ferdinand said ahead of the World Cup in Qatar.

‘It’s unfair. And I don’t think it’s just English players [who will be overtly abused]. I think it’s players of colour from all over the world who will be thinking this.

‘For a player to be getting on the pitch and thinking, ‘If I make a mistake, I could be racially abused’, that’s real.

‘And in today’s day and age, should that be the case? It shouldn’t be. The intentions and the values of the social media platforms are there for all to see.

‘They’re not willing to change, because they know that these types of toxic behaviours and hate behaviours drive revenue.

‘So they’re not going to change, it seems to me, at the moment.’

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‘It’s unfair…’