Incident monitoring - report discrimination!

Unfortunately, discrimination in soccer still happens. In order to be able to do something about it in the long term, such cases must be documented and concrete action taken against them.

fairplay believes in inclusive sport without discrimination, however not everyone shares our vision. Reporting discrimination is a means by which we can highlight problems. Therefore, it is important to recognize discriminatory incidents as such and to take preventive action.

You become a witness and want to report a racist, sexist, homophobic or right-wing extremist incident from the soccer area? Examples of discrimination are a racist smearing, homophobic insult or an anti-Semitic insult in the stadium or on the soccer field.

Then get in touch with us and fill out our online report form Discrimination in Football!

To the online report form "Discrimination in football".

You can use the reporting form to report cases of discrimination to the fairplay initiative. Your report will - unless explicitly stated otherwise by you - be anonymized and personal data will - without consent - not be passed on to third parties.

More information about this procedure can be found here and in downloadable PDFs:

- Download procedure to report discrimination in soccer as PDF
- Download reporting form as Word document
 

Procedure of the Austrian Football

Together with the ÖFB and the Austrian Football League, fairplay has developed a procedure (three-step plan) on how to proceed in the future when discriminatory incidents become known.

1. Occasion: After receiving the report, we consult with the person reporting the incident.
2. Obtaining information: Afterwards, fairplay contacts the involved clubs, if possible, the involved persons/groups as well as the ÖFB or the ÖFBL (depending on the competence) in order to obtain further information and to get a comprehensive picture of the situation and to give all parties involved the opportunity to comment.
3. Become active: An incident is taken as an opportunity by fairplay and preventive measures are taken with the clubs and the associations.

As an expert, the fairplay initiative takes on an advisory role, supports the measures and documents all reported incidents.

As a supporting and advisory initiative, fairplay has no legal authority to take action against affected clubs/organizations for discrimination or to impose sanctions on them. This competence lies exclusively with the ÖFB or the ÖFBL or the regional soccer associations in accordance with the provisions of the ÖFB Code of Law and Order. 

Discriminatory signs and symbols

Not only chants or verbal assaults are considered discriminatory acts, but also banners, flags, stickers and other material can have racist, neo-Nazi, homophobic, sexist or other discriminatory content. To better identify these signs and symbols, the FARE Network has created a guide that explains their meaning.

Download: Monitoring discriminatory signs and symbols at UEFA Euro 2016

How are reports handled?

• After a report has been received by fairplay, a member of staff will contact the reporter.
• The name and function of the reporter will be treated confidentially - as far as known - and will not be passed on to third parties, neither verbally nor in writing, unless the reporter has given his/her explicit consent.
• Further personal data such as the address etc. of the applicant will be processed solely by fairplay in accordance with the provisions of data protection law.