FIFA will ask the Russian Football Union (RFU) to provide details of the racist incident that marred Friday's match between Spartak Moscow and Ufa, soccer's world governing body said. In the 31st minute of the first match of the new Russian Premier League season, Ufa's Ghanaian midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong was subjected to monkey chants. "When the match was stopped, the fans started shouting 'monkey' at me," Frimpong said after the match ended in a 2-2 draw. The former Arsenal player was sent off after he raised a finger to the crowd in response. "FIFA will request details from the RFU on this incident," the governing body said in a statement. "We recently reinforced our fight against discrimination in football with the introduction of a new anti-discrimination monitoring system for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. "We believe that the hosting of the FIFA World Cup offers a great opportunity to say no to racism and any other form of discrimination and send a clear message to the world in this regards," the statement added. Following his dismissal Frimpong questioned the country's hosting of the 2018 World Cup when such incidents still occurred. "Russia 2018 LOC condemns racism and discrimination in all its forms. Racism has no place in the modern world, least of all anywhere near a football pitch," the Russia 2018 Media Office said in a statement. "We are confident that the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, in particular, can act as a catalyst to positively change the mindset and behavior for all members of football community over the next three years. "The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia will be a great festival of football for fans and footballers from every corner of the globe." The RFU's general secretary, Anatoly Vorobyov, confirmed his organization would investigate the matter and hoped clubs would implement measures to prevent such incidents occurring again. "The Russian Football Union's disciplinary committee will look into the situation and what happened," Vorobyov told Reuters in a telephone interview. "Racism is a disgusting thing, which we have not been able to fully stamp out. The virus that is racism is worse than the virus that is Ebola. Unfortunately it seems that we are unable to find a remedy for it. "The clubs should introduce more effective scheme to work with the supporters surrounding this issue. The fight against racism should be a priority for work carried out by the RFU." (For more sports news andupdates, followAhramOnlineSportson Twitter at@AO_Sportsand onFacebookatAhramOnlineSports.) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/135672.aspx
