Sao Paulo: A Brazilian judge ordered a Peruvian fitness coach with soccer club Universitario remain in custody Wednesday for allegedly making racist gestures to Corinthians fans during a Copa Sudamericana match the previous night.
Sao Paulo police arrested Sebastian Avellino at the NeoQuimica Arena after his team’s 1-0 loss to Corinthians Tuesday in the first leg of their Copa Sudamericana playoff. Three witnesses told police Avellino made monkey gestures to them.
Avellino can appeal the decision and apply for bail. The Universitario players and other staff left Brazil hours before the judge’s decision to keep Avellino detained.
Universitario defended Avellino in a statement that said the arrest was “inadmissible, humiliating and outrageous.”
The Peruvian club accused the fans of attacking their staffer and then fabricating the racism accusation.
Racist incidents have tainted South American soccer club competitions in recent years, and many of those involve Brazilian fans being targeted by rival supporters, both home and away.
The sport’s South American governing body CONMEBOL in May last year approved harsher punishments for those involved in racist acts, but it hasn’t entirely stopped.
Since February, South America’s main club competitions — the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana — generated 10 cases of racism, including Tuesday’s. Nine of them have Brazilians as targets.
On Tuesday, CONMEBOL fined Paraguay club Libertad in $105,000 for a June 27 incident in which its fans racially abused Atletico Mineiro’s goalkeeper Everson.
