2018 FIFA World Cup: Arsene Wenger says boycott too big a step

Arsene Wenger says World Cup boycott would be going too far

After Yaya Toure was racially abused during the UEFA Champions League match against Russian side CSKA Moscow on Wednesday, he called for all black players to boycott the World Cup that is to be held in Russia, in 2018. He even received support for the boycott move from a number of anti-racism groups.

However, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said talks about boycotting the World Cup are too early and that UEFA should continue with the good job it is doing in combating racism.

Wenger said: “You have to fight racism whether it is in Russia or anywhere else in the world.

I don’t know what really happened there, but you cannot tolerate racism of any kind and you have to fight against it. How (do) you do that?

Honestly I believe UEFA is taking action in the right way and to go as extreme as (a boycott), it’s a bit early to do that because it’s not proven what happened. I believe that Russia itself has to fight against that and of course you want everybody to be active on that.”