This was certainly not the response that Paris Basketball was expecting. After the racist acts that several players of the Parisian club denounced in the public of Badalona this Tuesday evening in the Eurocup, the Spanish club reacted in a press release explaining that these accusations were “unfounded”.
“We will not allow (these accusations) to devalue the image of a historic club like ours, nor for the integrity of our members and supporters to be doubted,” adds Joventut Badalone, thus denying any racist incident in his room. The playmaker of the French club Nadir Hifi, however, claimed to have heard racist cries coming from the stands. “I’ve never seen that in my entire life. Monkey cries during our match in Badalona… We are in 2023 and nothing is still changing, it’s very serious,” he was moved on X.
His Swiss teammate Michael Kessens then came to his aid. “I don’t know which is worse: the racist behavior of Badalona fans or the fact that the same shit happens every year and nothing changes. This behavior is letting off fans who think it’s acceptable and normal. Are you going to do something, the EuroCup? » These cries and insults were in fact aimed at their teammate Mehdy Ngouama.
The Spanish team said it firmly rejected “any type of intimidating, vexatious, racist and/or xenophobic behavior and/or comments” coming from its stands or elsewhere. However, Badalone, located in the province of Barcelona, is used to its excesses among its public. In February 2023, still in the Eurocup, Yago Mateus Dos Santos, the Brazilian leader of the German team Ulm, was the target of racist gestures by a woman. Joventut Badalone therefore did not learn from its mistakes.
