The 4th referee of Romanian nationality, Sebastian Coltescu will finally be cleared by UEFA. The UEFA investigation, which was accused of making comments deemed racist towards the assistant coach of the Istanbul club, Cameroonian Achille Webo, delivered its first conclusions. On Thursday 11 February, the daily Pro Sport, which revealed the results of this investigation exclusively, announced that the referee’s comments were not considered racist. Therefore, there should be no penalty.
The stage had moved the world of football. On 8 December 2020, during the Champions League match between PSG and the Turkish club Basaksehir in Paris, the 4th referee Sébastien Coltescu was accused of having made racist remarks against the Cameroonian assistant coach, Achille Webo. “The black man” said the referee speaking of the Cameroonian triggered a big anger in the victim who was convinced that the Romanian referee would never have said “the white man” in another case. The match was even interrupted and played again the next day.
The reaction of the Senegalese international, Demba Ba, had amazed the entire football world. The latter had chastised the referee’s behaviour in a tense face-to-face. “Why do you say “this black guy” to talk about a black player when you say “this guy” to talk about a white player?” When you talk about a white person, you say “this man” instead of “this white man”. So why do you have to say “this black man” when you’re talking about someone who’s black?” he threw in his face.
However, the results of the UEFA investigation have just completely cleared the arbitrator and evoke a misinterpretation of his remarks by Achille Webo. However, the information has not yet been officially published, but it will probably be confirmed when it is officially published.
