The friendly match between Qatar and New Zealand was stopped due to racism

The friendly match held on Monday evening in Austria between Qatar and New Zealand will not be completed. the reason ? The New Zealanders decided not to return after the end of the first half, while they were leading 1-0, after a Qatari player was accused of racially insulting Kiwi defender Michael Boxall, of Samoan origin.

The New Zealand Federation explained in a tweet on Twitter: “Michael Boxall was the victim of a racist insult in the first period from a Qatari player.” She added: “The referee did not react, so the team chose not to return to play the second half of the match.”

“There is no place for racism in football.”

“We never want a match to be cancelled, but some issues are bigger than football and it's important to take a stand,” New Zealand Football Association president Andrew Pragnell said, before adding: “There is no place for racism in football.” soccer.”

For his part, Carlos Queiroz, the Portuguese coach of the Qatar national team, spoke about an exchange of words between players over the microphone of the Qatari Al Kass channel: “To our surprise, the captain of the New Zealand national team came to see us to tell us that his team would not resume the match. The facts are as follows: Two players exchanged words on the ground “The pitch. Who spoke first? It was between them. The New Zealand players decided to support their partner, and obviously we support our player. They chose to leave the match without there being a witness to this story.”

At the same time, a second match between Amal Ireland and Kuwait was stopped for the same reason on Monday evening. During the second half, one of the Kuwaiti players allegedly directed racist insults at one of the Irish substitutes.

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