adminopen-letter that black players are “forced down Zenit’s throat”.
They added that gay players are “unworthy of our great city”.
Dietmar Beiersdorfer, Zenit director of sports, said players were selected “without any limitation regarding origin, religion or skin colour”.
Zenit were the only top-flight Russian team without a black player until this summer.
They signed Brazilian striker Hulk and Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel for £64m. French midfielder Yann M’Vila reportedly turned down a move to the club in August as a result of racist abuse.
Nikolai Grammatikov, the secretary of the union of football players and coaches in Russia, believes players can send an important message to the country’s football authorities by refusing to join Russian clubs. “The best way of acting against this is when the players that are invited to come to Russia, the black players especially, say ‘Sorry I would love to come as it is probably an interesting Championship, but the Federation has to do something because I am not going there because of the racists,’” he said. — BBC Sport.
Online Reporter