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W.Cup Qualifiers Row: Coach Saintfiet Accuses Keshi Of Racism

Nigeria’s Super Eagles Coach, Stephen Keshi has been accused of racism by the Malawian Coach Tom Saintfeit who alleged that Keshi called him a ‘White … Continue reading W.Cup Qualifiers Row: Coach Saintfiet Accuses Keshi Of Racism


Nigeria’s Super Eagles Coach, Stephen Keshi has been accused of racism by the Malawian Coach Tom Saintfeit who alleged that Keshi called him a ‘White Dude’ adding that Saintfeit should go back to his home country, Belgium.

Sainfeit said his employer, the Football Federation of Malawi has reported to World football governing body FIFA, and according to him the football association is waiting for FIFA’s response on the allegation.

He hinted that he is not expecting any fireworks from the football governing body even though they have rules kicking against racism in football but to him, it up to FIFA to take a decision on the matter.

According reports, Keshi and Sainfeit have been in the cold war since the World qualifiers fixture which will be coming up next month, with the Malawian team coach expressing his concern on the safety of his team in the city of Calabar ahead of the qualifiers hinting at the no-travel area tag on Calabar by the British Foreign Office. And Malawi requested that the game be moved out of Calabar.

In response to Saintfeit’s statement, Keshi reportedly said during an interview that Saintfeit knows nothing about Africa being a white, having worked with countries like Namibia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and even Nigeria national teams.

“If he wants to talk to Fifa, he should go back to Belgium. He is not an African person, he is a white dude. He should go back to Belgium,” Keshi said. “All other countries play in Calabar. Calabar is one of the safest places in Nigeria … He is mad. I wish I could say it to his face.”

Malawi needs to win the game to knock the African champions out of World Cup qualifying and progress to the final playoffs for Brazil 2014.

Fifa toughened its punishments for racism at its recent annual conference in Mauritius in May after incidents in England and Italy, where black players were targeted, but a white coach accusing a black coach of racism is rare.

Saintfeit who said he does not support racism said during an interview with BBC, that if the World Football body is serious about hacking racism from football, then it should be taken seriously on all direction that is either from a white to a black or vice versa.

Saintfiet also continued to cast doubt on the safety of Calabar after the Nigeria Football Federation gave Fifa a written guarantee that the September 7 match would be secure. The NFF said the teams and match officials would be accompanied by police escorts and bomb squads would be deployed at hotels, training grounds and the 12,000-seat stadium.