The football friendly between New Zealand and Qatar underway in Austria was suspended between the first and second half: the New Zealanders, in fact, decided not to return to the field to protest against alleged racial abuse by their opponents. “Michael Boxall was racially abused during the first half by a Qatari player. The referee did not intervene, so the team refused to return to the field for the second half,” the New Zealand football federation wrote on social media. .
Qatar manager Carlos Queiroz said “to our surprise the New Zealand captain came in at half-time to inform us they would not be resuming the match”. “Apparently two players on the pitch insulted each other,” Queiroz told Qatari media. “Who started? Who answered? Only the two of them know. There are no witnesses and the referee hasn’t heard. And the benches haven’t heard either. It’s a discussion between two players,” added the Portuguese coach.
Queiroz said he expected FIFA to investigate the incident. “Let’s allow the football authorities to make a decision about what happened,” he concluded. “I think this case will be difficult for FIFA because nobody has heard anything.”
This same Monday and still in Austria another friendly, the one between the U21 of Ireland and that of Kuwait. was suspended after the Irish reported racial abuse against a member of their team.
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