Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure says next year’s World Cup will be a “big mess” if it is marred by racism and discrimination.

Toure, 34, was the subject of racist chants when City played CSKA Moscow in the Champions League in Russia in 2013.

He wants to help Fifa and the Russian government tackle the problem in the build-up to next summer’s tournament.

“We have to see change because people have been talking but nothing has really been taken care of,” he added.

Last month, Liverpool complained to Uefa about alleged racist abuse directed at winger Bobby Adekanye during a Uefa Youth League match at Spartak Moscow.

In 2015, former Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong was sent off while playing for Russian side FC Ufa after he gestured to the crowd with his middle finger in response to alleged monkey chants.

Ex-Zenit St Petersburg striker Hulk, meanwhile, claimed he was racially abused in “almost every game” he played in Russia.

Toure has taken part in a short film supporting a campaign tackling discrimination in football.

And the former Ivory Coast international sees the 2018 World Cup as a watershed moment for Fifa in its battle to curb discrimination.

Asked in the film about his hopes for the tournament, Toure said: “If racism situations are going to be involved then it is going to be a big mess.

“Everyone is talking about Russia maybe being a little bit difficult. But I hope that Russia surprises everybody by trying to make something very nice.”

Toure, who speaks Russian, added: “I want to say to Fifa and to the government in Russia as well that if you need me I can help.

“I don’t want to be involved in only talking.

“I want to see action and people be real. These things are very important for the future of football.”

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Source: BBC

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The Ivory Coast player, 33, accepts he was “above the permitted limit”, and did not challenge the charge.

He was fined £54,000 – a means-tested fine – and banned from driving for 18 months by Barkingside magistrates.

“It is well known that I am a Muslim and do not drink, said Toure. “I have always refused alcohol.”

Toure was driving in Dagenham in east London at the time of the offence last month.

He pleaded guilty to the charge on Monday, but did not say in his Facebook statement how the alcohol got into his system.

In his statement Toure added: “Drink-driving is a serious crime and even though I was not intentionally consuming alcohol I accept the ban and fine and I would like to apologise for this situation.”

The Ivory Coast international was recalled to the Manchester City squad earlier this month after apologising for “misunderstandings” relating to comments made by his agent Dimitri Seluk.
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Source: BBC

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The Ivorian had not featured for City this season but showed no rustiness with his deflected shot in the 39th minute the difference in a tight first half.

Palace came back into the match in the second half and equalised when Connor Wickham, the substitute, got past Pablo Zabaleta and shot through Claudio Bravo on 66 minutes.

But City responded and Toure was allowed to convert Kevin De Bruyne’s low corner from six yards to send City level on 27 points with Liverpool, who could only draw at Southampton.

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Credit:Premierleague.com

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The nuns, whose campaign is also backed by the U.S. embassy to the Vatican, announced an international campaign called “Play in Favor of Life – Denounce Human Trafficking,” on the risks they say will be associated with the June 12 – July 13 tournament.

“We need to make people conscious of what happens on the margins of big world events such as the FIFA World Cup and the suffering of those who are trafficked,” said Sister Carmen Sammut, a Maltese nun and one of the campaign organizers.

“Without this awareness, without acting together in favor of human dignity, the World Cup finals may turn out to be a terrible shame instead of a feast for humanity,” she told a news conference at the Vatican.

Sammut said the initiative had the full backing of Pope Francis, an avid Argentine soccer fan who has called several conferences at the Vatican to study ways of combating human trafficking.

Sister Gabriella Bottani, an Italian nun who works in Brazil , said human traffickers and others took advantage of large events like the World Cup to exploit the most vulnerable.

She said young people from the countryside are lured with the promise of a job and forced into prostitution. Children in rural areas may be kidnapped and taken to cities hosting the venues and forced to beg.

Others who are already being exploited as sex workers may be forced to move to one of the 12 venue cities because they would be more profitable to their pimps.

In countries like Brazil, she said, large events could also give rising to kidnapping for adoption. “It is amazing how so many forces of evil can converge to cause so much harm against human freedom.”

The nuns said statistics showed that sexual exploitation rose 30 percent in connection with the World Cup in Germany in 2006 and 40 percent at the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

The nuns will be raising awareness of the dangers of human trafficking and other crimes connected to the World Cup through their blog gritopelavida.blogspot.com.br/, their Facebook page here and other social media .

Volunteers will be handing out leaflets in cities in Brazil and other Latin American countries, warning of human trafficking and how to spot it. Several demonstrations are planned.

Catholic nuns have for years been in the front line in the fight against human trafficking.

They have formed the International Network of Consecrated Life Against Trafficking in Persons, known as Talitha Kum (Little Girl, Arise), a phrase in Aramaic taken from the Bible. It has members in more than 30 countries.

Source: Reuters

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