During FC St.Gallen's Conference League qualifying second leg in Wrocław, Poland, a racism scandal broke out around FCSG goalie Lawrence Ati Zigi. The day after, St.Gallen are shocked.
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- Lawrence Ati Zigi is the victim of racist gestures and monkey noises in Wroclaw.
- After the game, Polish supporters flooded FCSG's social media and insulted Zigi in the worst possible way.
- The day after the scandal, FC St.Gallen condemned the events "in the strongest possible terms". Captain Lukas Görtler is shocked and calls on UEFA to take action.
After the final whistle in Wroclaw, Zigi is unstoppable. The St.Gallen goalkeeper stands in front of the opposing fans in a rage, repeatedly pointing his finger at his arm and hitting his heart. He had to stand in goal for 115 minutes, powerless to stop Polish fans hurling racist insults at him.
Even during the game, Zigi fights back after monkey noises are heard in the Wroclaw stadium. He climbs over the bar and confronts a fan who has apparently insulted him. The culprit has to leave the sector after a long back and forth, but the racism storm does not stop there. After the game, the FCSG keeper is insulted in the worst possible way on the net.
Polish supporters continued to flood FC St.Gallen's social media the following day. Numerous posts on the X platform and on Zigi's Instagram profile were filled with Polish swear words and racist insults.
Görtler calls on UEFA to take action
FCSG condemned the events in Poland "in the strongest terms" on their website. Captain Lukas Görtler posted a quote from US civil rights activist Angela Davis on Instagram on Friday: "In a racist society, it's not enough not to be racist. You have to be anti-racist."
Görtler writes: "I don't know what was more difficult: hearing those noises yesterday and seeing those gestures, or realizing that they were tolerated and considered normal by many people."
He had the feeling that the incident had not been judged as something bad, says Görtler in shock. The reactions and messages on social media after the game had reinforced this feeling. "With all due respect to emotions in football, at the end of the day sport should be there to unite and not divide. I hope UEFA will take action and take this issue seriously."
"The message is clear"
Zigi himself shared a black and white picture of himself in his Instagram story on Friday with the caption: "Say no to racism" - to which the FCSG goalie wrote briefly and concisely: "The message is clear."
