Spanish police apprehended four individuals on Tuesday in connection with an incident in January in which an effigy of Brazilian football player Vinicius Jr. was hung from a bridge, a day after a senior official warned Spanish football had a racism issue.
An investigation into a hate crime was launched after an effigy wearing winger Vinicius Jr.’s No. 20 shirt was hung from a bridge in front of Real Madrid’s training ground, along with a 16-metre red and white banner that read “Madrid hates Real.”
Following a race-crime accusation filed by Real Madrid, football federation director Luis Rubiales stated that Spanish football had a racism issue.
After racial slurs were aimed at the Real Madrid player during a Spanish league match on Sunday, Vinicius Jr., in a social media post, called the racist abuse “inhuman” and asked sponsors and broadcasters to hold LaLiga accountable.
The four men could be responsible for an alleged hate crime, and three of them are active members of “a radical group of fans of a Madrid club”, police said. Those three members were previously identified during matches and qualified as “high risk” to help prevent violence in sport, they said.
LaLiga, the country’s top football league, is under pressure to do more to combat racism after the Brazilian president, FIFA, and sporting stars such as France forward Kylian Mbappe, Rio Ferdinand, and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton voiced support for Vinicius.
The effigy incident took place before Real hosted Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals in late January.
