The governing body that runs the major professional soccer leagues in France has launched a campaign against antisemitism.
The Ligue de Football Profesionne (LFP) is partnering with Licra (the International League Against Racism and Antisemitism, which was established in France in 1927) to promote a platform for reporting racism and antisemitism that occurs at soccer matches.
The LFP, which runs the two top tiers of French professional soccer, has made the fight against antisemitism and other forms of discrimination one of of its priorities and has launched an ambitious programme to ensure that antisemitism, racism and sexism disappear from the world of professional soccer.
The LPF and Licra produced a videoclip to promote a new platform for reporting racism and antisemitism in stadiums.
The clip encourages all witnesses or victims of racist or antisemitic acts in a stadium to report them at Licra’s online portal.
Online since 2019, the platform encourages the reporting of antisemitism in stadiums and offers advice and legal assistance to victims, which is in some instances the first step to initiating criminal proceedings against the perpetrators.
Part of the campaign will involve the sign “Against racism and anti-Semitism, #Signal” being displayed on the field by players and referees before kick-off.
EA SPORTS is also creating a collector’s jersey for their EA Sports FIFA 22 video game with the same slogan.
Starting on March 18, the jersey and stadium decoration flags will be available free of charge to all FIFA 2022 players of the FIFA Ultimate Team mode.
The LFP and the Licra have also designed awareness-raising workshops against racism and antisemitism for three target audiences: professional players, coaches, team staff and fans.
“EA Sports is proud to partner with the Licra and the LFP to help combat racism and anti-Semitism by asking fans and communities to step up and report each and every one of these acts. We are pleased to include this special shirt in FIFA 22 as a way for fans to support this message and show their support,” said David Jackson, brand vice president of EA SPORTS FIFA.
Mario Stasi, the president of Licra, added that his organization is “happy to join forces with the LFP and EA SPORTS to promote the reporting platform and this collector’s jersey to help combat racism and antisemitism in stadiums.”