5 things that could go wrong during 2018 FIFA World Cup

#4 Racism

FIFA have attempted to eradicate racism, but it's still a huge problem in Russia

In a similar vein to the issues surrounding hooliganism, racism is a long-rooted problem within football that FIFA and other organisations have been working hard for years to eradicate. Indeed, the ‘Kick it Out’ campaign has been largely successful and in places like England, racist chants from the fans are all but gone. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for other parts of Europe, and unfortunately, Russia and other Eastern European countries remain a hotbed of racism.

It’s now seven years since a banana-themed banner was unfurled at a Lokomotiv Moscow game to celebrate the sale of striker Peter Odemwingie to West Bromwich Albion, but things don’t seem to have gotten any better for coloured players in Russia. Just a few weeks ago, Liverpool’s young striker Rhian Brewster suffered racial abuse at the hands of Spartak Moscow player Leonid Mironov during a UEFA Youth League game, and Brazilian forward Hulk, who played in Russia for Zenit, has also stated that racism is common there.

Part of the problem could easily be blamed on the officials themselves, though. Too little has been done to deal with racism from fans from Eastern Europe towards black players over the last decade, and we’ve seen incidents where the authorities have appeared to back the racists – such as when Danny Rose was sent off during an under-21 international game against Serbia for retaliating against racist abuse. Until FIFA properly crack down on such incidents – outright banning countries who harbour racism from taking part in tournaments – it will remain a problem.

And with five African teams and countless numbers of coloured players heading to the World Cup next year, it’s a problem that can be expected to rear its ugly head once again.