March 18, 2026<\/p>\n
SEOUL \u2013 Racial slurs targeting a player for Jeju SK FC have prompted the club\u2019s supporters to launch an anti-racism campaign and call for changes in the spectator culture of Korean professional football.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, fans held placards reading \u201cSay no to racism\u201d during a fan event held before the team\u2019s match against FC Seoul at Jeju World Cup Stadium on Jeju Island. They also chanted the name of Italo Moreira Barcelos.<\/p>\n
The Brazilian midfielder plays in the K League 1, South Korea\u2019s top professional football division.<\/p>\n
After being sent off for rough play in a March 1 match against Gwangju FC, he was subjected to online abuse, including racial slurs. The abusive comments appeared not only on his social media account but also on posts linked to the club and his girlfriend.<\/p>\n
The incident prompted a strong response from the club and its supporters. The club warned it could take strong action, including legal measures, saying player protection was its top priority.<\/p>\n
However, the club has yet to take further steps after the player and his girlfriend reportedly said they did not want to pursue legal action.<\/p>\n
Fans continued to show support for the player during Sunday\u2019s match. They held placards throughout the match and chanted his name in the fifth minute, even though he did not start the match.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe aim to deliver heartfelt support and comfort to Italo Moreira Barcelos, as well as his family and loved ones,\u201d the supporters\u2019 group said in a post announcing the campaign.<\/p>\n
The group expressed opposition to hate speech in stadiums targeting players based on their identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also declare that any kind of hate will not be tolerated at Wind Force,\u201d the supporters said, referring to the nickname of Jeju World Cup Stadium.<\/p>\n
Racial abuse directed at players has surfaced before in Korean professional football. Last season, FC Anyang\u2019s Bruno Mota was targeted with racial slurs and left in tears during a match in October.<\/p>\n
Responding to recurring racial issues, the Korea Pro-Footballers Association said in September last year that it would respond with a zero-tolerance policy toward malicious online comments and direct messages targeting players and their families.<\/p>\n
\u201cCriticism should be respected, but hate speech, threats and defamation are clear crimes,\u201d General Secretary Kim Hoon-ki said in a press release at the time.<\/p>\n
He added that the association would pursue criminal and civil action against abusive comments and hate speech targeting players based on race, appearance or gender.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 18, 2026 SEOUL \u2013 Racial slurs targeting a player for Jeju SK FC have prompted the club\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,7460,18262,82,10063],"class_list":["post-543705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-society","tag-south-korea","tag-sports","tag-the-korea-herald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}