(Madrid) The Spanish courts have sentenced a man to eight months in prison after he made racist insults online on a sports daily’s forum targeting Vinicius Junior and Antonio Rüdiger, two Real Madrid players, the club announced on Wednesday.
The convicted man, under the cover of “several pseudonyms, had launched racist attacks and insults on the digital forum of the daily Marca against our players,” Real wrote in a statement.
“The judge sentenced him to eight months in prison, as well as a ban on participating in this forum for 20 months,” Real Madrid continued, specifying that the man would not go to prison on condition that he follows “a programme on equality and the fight against discrimination.”
This is the second criminal conviction for racist insults targeting Real players, the Madrid club also points out.
On June 10, three Valencia fans were sentenced to eight months in prison for having uttered racist insults in their club’s stadium in May 2023, already targeting Real Madrid’s Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior, which had provoked a wave of international indignation.
The incidents sparked debate in Spain, where racism has been a common occurrence in football stadiums for decades.
A figure in the fight against racism in Spanish football, Vinicius Jr has been targeted several times in recent years by insults during sporting events. But only some of these incidents have resulted in sanctions.
In June 2023, four Atlético ultras supporters, accused of hanging a mannequin of Vinicius Jr from a bridge in the Spanish capital, were banned from stadiums for two years by the Spanish authorities. The criminal proceedings against them are still ongoing.