Italian club Como have denied their player was intentionally racist towards Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Hwang Hee-chan and accused Wolves of “blowing the incident out of proportion”.
Wolves have lodged a complaint with the English FA after Hwang reported being racially abused during a training-ground game against the Serie A side at their pre-season training camp in Spain on Monday evening.
The FA is expected to contact to the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and European governing body UEFA after the incident left Hwang’s Wolves team-mates furious and saw Daniel Podence sent off for throwing a punch.
But, in a statement released on Tuesday, Como played down the incident as a misunderstanding.
Mirwan Suwarso, official representative of Como’s ownership club, said: “Our club does not tolerate racism and condemns all forms of it in the strongest possible way.
“We spoke to the defender in question to understand what was said. He has told us the comment he made, to his co-defender, was ‘ignore him, he thinks he’s Jackie Chan’.
“Having spoken to our player at length, we are confident this was in reference to the player’s name, and to the constant references of ‘Channy’ made by his own team-mates on the pitch.
“As far as our club is concerned our player did not say anything in a derogatory manner.
“We are disappointed that the reaction of certain Wolves players has seen the incident blown out of proportion.”
Como were promoted to Serie A at the end of last season (Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images)
Wolves head coach Gary O’Neil spoke after his side’s 1-0 victory, revealing he had spoken to Hwang and offered to take Wolves off the field or substitute the South Korea international. Hwang opted to allow the game to continue.
O’Neil said: “Channy heard a racist remark which is really disappointing. I spoke to Channy about it, checked whether he wanted to take the team off or come off himself, but he was keen the team carried on and got the work they needed.
“He’s really disappointed, of course, and understandably. I’m proud of the fact that he wanted to carry on and put his team first in a difficult moment for him. He knew it was a pre-season trip and he wanted the lads to work and get their minutes, even though he’d suffered something hugely offensive.”
Wolves hope UEFA and the FIGC will investigate, although the European governing body told The Athletic that the friendly did not fall under its jurisdiction.
A UEFA statement read: “The fight to eliminate racism, discrimination and intolerance from football is a major priority for our organization.
“Discriminatory behaviour is not tolerated in UEFA’s competitions. Any such behaviour would fall under Article 14 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations.
“While UEFA will continue its fight to eliminate all forms of discrimination in football, the organisation’s disciplinary bodies can only take action for incidents that take place in UEFA competitions.”
Wolves were due to fly home today after a week in Spain. They will leave for the United States next week for a three-match trip comprising meetings with West Ham, Crystal Palace and RB Leipzig.
(Top photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
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