Published 15:35 IST, October 26th 2019
Chennai City FC raise racism complaint against referee in cup clash
Chennai City FC: 'Targetted derogatory and racist remarks are extremely impudent and harmful for the person at the receiving end' the I-League club tweeted
I-League team Chennai City FC played against the Bangladesh Premier League-side Bashundhara Kings in the Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup on Thursday. Chennai City lost the game by 3-2 against the Bashundhara Kings. During the match, Chennai's midfielder, Katsumi Yusa allegedly accused the match referee of racially abusing him and the game was stopped for 10 minutes with Chennai City FC players denying to continue the play.
Yusa was later shown a red card for arguing with the match officials and the game eventually continued with a 9-man Chennai City FC getting eliminated from the tournament after facing their second straight loss. Chennai City FC came in support of Yusa after the match got over and released an official statement on social media confirming that one of their players was racially abused by the referee in their clash against Bashundhara Kings and they have issued a complaint to AFC Match Commissioner and the Bangladesh Football Federation.
Chennai City FC' tweet about the incident
About the incident
Chennai City FC were awarded a free-kick in the 24th minute of the match. Katsumi Yusa was ready to take the set-piece but before that, he got into a heated argument with the match referee. Yusa left the pitch after the argument and went to his manager as the referee asked the Chennai City players to re-start the play. The matter got worse when Yusa was seen charging towards the match officials before some of his teammates stopped him. Katsumi Yusa was shown the red card after the incident and Chennai City players resumed the game in the 35th minute.
Updated 18:59 IST, October 26th 2019