5 footballers who were banned for racism

#2: Emre Belozoglu

Emre Belozoglu became the first Turkish footballer to be convicted of racism

Perhaps no other footballer has been accused of racism quite as many times as Turkey’s Emre Belozoglu. The controversy began while he was playing for Newcastle United in 2006, when after a game with Everton, he was charged by the FA for using racist insults towards black players Joseph Yobo, Tim Howard and Joleon Lescott.

An investigation saw him cleared, but a year later he was accused of using racist insults by both El-Hadji Diouf and Alhassan Bangura. Again, neither accusation could be proven, and Emre was cleared of any wrongdoing after investigations had been launched. But when he moved back to Turkey with Fenerbahce he was not so lucky.

When Fenerbahce faced Trabzonspor in April 2012, a nasty incident occurred that saw Emre accused by former Tottenham player Didier Zokora of using a racist slur towards him. Zokora claimed Emre had called him a “f*cking n*gger”, and for his part, Emre admitted to using a “stupid word”, but claimed it was all in the heat of the match.

The Turkish FA didn’t see it like that and hit Emre with a two-match ban for using abusive language, but worse was yet to come – in June 2014 the case went to court and Emre became the first Turkish footballer to be convicted for racism – he was handed a two-and-a-half year suspended prison sentence.