Instigators and Victims of Racism Abuse in Football: Are the Same, Different, or What?

The current research provides a mapping of the most important instigators and victims of racism abuse in football. Based on the literature review findings, it is observed that in sports, there exists an upward trend of racism incidents among different stakeholders on a daily basis, from the administrative workforce and distinct policy makers to athletes and fans. In order to investigate this trend, data was collected through the implementation of a specific project, called “BRISWA,” which is an EU-funded project that deals with the problem of racism in football and in sports in general (funded by the Erasmus+ Programme - Sport Collaborative Partnership). The survey was conducted in the field of football in six countries, Italy, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Hungary, and Bulgaria. The survey took place from August 2017 to January 2018. Our sample included people of all ages (n = 672). Data was analyzed through a combination of exploratory factor analysis and multi-criteria decision analysis. We have modeled the two distinct constructs, by running principal component analysis and then on the ranked data followed the results of the multi-criteria decision aid analysis with the Promethee software. A thorough discussion and conclusions are given for the improvement of regulations at a European level, to tackle the incidents of racism abuse in the sphere of football.