Wolves forward Hwang Hee-chan suffers racist abuse in Farense friendly

Wolverhampton Wanderers is filing a formal complaint to UEFA after a player — believed to be Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan — was the target of racist abuse from fans of Portuguese side Farense during a friendly at Estádio Algarve on Sunday

Hwang Hee-chan [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Wolverhampton Wanderers is filing a formal complaint to UEFA after a player — believed to be Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan — was the target of racist abuse from fans of Portuguese side Farense during a friendly at Estádio Algarve in the Algarve, Portugal on Sunday.

Wolves issued a statement later on Sunday saying the club is filing a complaint because of the abuse, but did not name the player that was the target.

"We are very disappointed to report that one of our players was the target of discriminatory abuse from opposition fans this evening's game with SC Farense," the statement said. "We will be reporting the incident to UEFA and asking our opponent and relevant authorities to investigate. We are offering our full support to the player involved.

"Racism in any form is completely unacceptable and should never be left unchallenged."

A statement from Wolverhampton Wanderers calls for an investigation into racist abuse aimed at a player on Sunday. [WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS]

Hwang secured Wolves a draw in the game after scoring a penalty to tie the score at 1-1.

Immediately after taking the penalty, Hwang signaled to the referee and to Wolves officials that Farense fans had made a racist gesture while he was preparing to take the spot kick.

While talking to the referee, Hwang gestured toward his eyes, prompting initial reports that fans had shined lasers at Kim while he was taking the shot. The Wolves press release suggests Hwang was actually complaining that fans were making racist gestures.

Hwang, now entering his second season with Wolverhampton, has faced racist abuse in the past. Last year, when he was first introduced to Wolves fans on the sidelines of a game against Manchester United, United fans sang an offensive chant that references Koreans eating dog meat.

That incident triggered former United star Park Ji-sung to call out his own fans, condemning their continued use of a song that perpetuates racist stereotypes and is targeted at younger Korean players.

Like many European football leagues, Liga Portugal has also struggled to crack down on racism in recent years.

Although the Portuguese national team regularly take the knee — a common gesture across the sporting world as a statement against racism — before games and Portuguese supporters ranked the highest on a YouGov poll analyzing support for the gesture, at 79 percent, racism has continued to be an issue at league games.

In one of the most famous incidents, French Malian striker Moussa Marega, who at the time played for Porto, walked out of a game against Vitoria Guimaraes in 2020 due to the constant racist abuse of fans.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]