The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship will kick off a week from today. Normally it’s a cause for celebration, but concerns that some racist fans in the host countries of Poland and the Ukraine will harm black and Asian fans and players have dominated any discussion about the tournament. Is racism really that entrenched in European soccer?
Grant Wahl is a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, and Paul Elliott is the director of “Kick It Out,” an organization working to eradicate racism from football. He’s also a former Chelsea captain.
The story you just read is available for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll get us one step closer to our goal of raising $25,000 by June 14. We need your help now more than ever!