FC Midtjylland apologizes after racist abuse aimed at Korean fan

Danish club FC Midtjylland apologized Sunday after a Korean fan was caught on camera being racially abused by two Danish supporters in the team’s fan zone ahead of a UEFA Conference League qualifier on Thursday.

Screen captures of a video posted on TikTok show football fans making racist gestures at a Korean fan in an FC Midtjylland fan zone outside of the MCH Arena in Herning, Denmark on Thursday. The club later identified the individuals as Danish FC Midtjylland fans. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Danish club FC Midtjylland apologized Sunday after a Korean fan was caught on camera being racially abused by two Danish supporters in the team’s fan zone ahead of a UEFA Conference League qualifier on Thursday.

The incident took place as the Korean fan was filming himself eating in the fan zone outside of the MCH Arena in Herning, Denmark ahead of the game against Cyprian club Omonoia.

In the background, a Midtjylland fan at a neighboring table can be seen swearing at the Korean fan’s back a number of times, before he and another person at the same table make a racist gesture clearly aimed at the Korean.

The video later pans to reveal another Korean fan sitting opposite and directly in the line of sight of the Danish fans.

"Before Thursday's clash against Omonoia FC in the qualification for the UEFA Conference League, an episode took place in the fan zone, where a South Korean spectator was met by racist gestures from two Danish spectators,” FC Midtjylland said in a statement published in Danish.

“FC Midtjylland was made aware of the episode during the match and immediately chose to contact the South Korean guest to apologize for the episode on behalf of the club and sort it out. The aggrieved spectator stated that, in his eyes, the matter had been resolved since the Danish spectators had given a personal apology and realized that their behavior had been both unacceptable and hurtful.

“FC Midtjylland has since gathered additional material and held a number of meetings to get a full overview of the episode. We have reached the conclusion that the matter cannot be isolated to be a case between the two parties and that we as a club and company have to be clear, so that there is no doubt about FC Midtjylland's set of values.”

Midtjylland later said that it had banned the two fans for a year and had invited the Korean fans to attend Saturday’s league game against Brondby.

The incident comes just a month after Midtjylland signed Korean forward Cho Gue-sung. In eight appearances for the Danish team, Cho has already managed four goals — including during Thursday’s game against Omonoia.

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