The International Football Federation (Fifa) published a report on Saturday pointing to the increase in the number of insults suffered by footballers on social networks during international competitions, and presented a plan to fight.
Five months before the World Cup in Qatar (November 21-December 18), Fifa is joining forces with the international players' union, Fifpro, "to design a plan to protect teams, players, referees and supporters against the insults that circulate on social networks in times of international competition, ”explained in a press release.
A study on Euro 2021 and CAN 2022
A report released on the International Day for No Hate Speech on Saturday studied more than 400,000 social media posts during the semi-finals and final of two international competitions, the Euro in 2021 and the African Cup in 2022, showing that "more than half of the players have received insults coming, in large part, from their own compatriots".
“Homophobic (40%) and racist (38%) comments represent the majority of cases,” the statement said.
Fifa and Fifpro “have decided to launch a moderation service, to be used during competition.
This algorithm, which concerns both men's and women's football, will automatically detect hateful terms present in its database and published on identified accounts, in order to make the message invisible to the recipient and its subscribers.
"The author of the comment and his subscribers will still be able to consult it, but its scope will be considerably reduced", believe Fifa and Fifpro.
“Profound consequences” on the players
"Our duty is to protect football and, therefore, footballers," said Fifa President Gianni Infantino.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing a worrying trend of posting unacceptable messages (…).
This form of discrimination, like all others, has no place in football.
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“Football must protect players and other communities potentially affected by these increasingly frequent insults in the professional environment.
Such remarks can have profound consequences on their personality, their family and their performance, not to mention their well-being or their mental health,” said David Aganzo, president of Fifpro.
The international confederation and the players' union also want to offer "educational support and mental health recommendations to all players".