Romania loose Sebastian Colțescu

When a referee slips during an international or European Cup match, an entire country can be affected by his actions. In 2017, Germany apologized after the very controversial arbitration of Deniz Aytekin during Barça-PSG and the famous comeback. Today, it is Romania which toasts because of Sebastian Colţescu, the fourth referee of the match PSG-Istanbul Basaksehir, accused of having made racist remarks against Pierre Webo, member of the staff of Istanbul. Faced with this global outcry, Romania hastened to dissociate itself from the acts of Colţescu.

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Starting with the Romanian Football Federation (FRF). “The Romanian Football Federation has taken note of what happened during the Champions League match, PSG – Istanbul Bașakșehir, a match interrupted in the 14th minute, following an incident in which Sebastian Colțescu, the fourth official of the match, was involved. The match did not continue and UEFA will analyze the incident. The Romanian Football Federation is awaiting the report from the Nyon Forum to find out exactly what happened and act accordingly! The Romanian Football Federation is firmly opposed to any racist or xenophobic action or statement ”, she posted on her official website.

Colțescu condemned from all sides in his country

Then it was the turn of the Minister of Sports, Ionut Stroe to come out of the silence to apologize on behalf of the Romanian people. “I strongly condemn any comments that can be interpreted as racist, xenophobic or discriminatory. I apologize on behalf of Romanian sport for this unfortunate incident, which does not represent us ”, he said on DiGiTv, followed by Csaba Asztalos, president of the CNCD, namely the National Council for the fight against discrimination. And his statement is muscular.

“The expression is racist, without any possibility of interpretation, and shows that this referee is absolutely unprepared for the values ​​and rules of the FRF, UEFA and FIFA. The three entities have very clear provisions against racism and the referees have a key role to play in sanctioning these acts. According to Colțescu, he does not, in fact, know that the expression “black” is racist. He could identify the player by his number, he could tell he was African American. This shows his degree of knowledge. It’s a huge stain on Romania and arbitration in Romania. This is an extremely serious incident, a live match has been interrupted! I don’t remember anything like this happening because of a referee. For us, including the institution that I represent, this is a huge task ”, he said, in remarks relayed by Prosport. Sebastian Colțescu can fear the worst.