By Daily Sports on July 19, 2018

Supporters of FC Torpedo Moscow have protested after the club signed 19-year-old black defender Erving Botaka-Yoboma.

Botaka-Yoboma, who is of African descent but Russian-born, joined the Russia Second Division team this week after the player left Lokomotiv-Kazanka Moscow.

The decision by the club to sign Botaka-Yoboma was met with racist abuse.

A group of fans, known as the Zapad-5 Ultras, wrote on Russian social media site Vkontakte: 'There may be black in our team's colours, but there is only white in our supporters' ranks.'

The comments have been met with condemnation by a number of Russian football officials, including the club's owner Roman Avdeyev.

Avdeyev defended the decision to sign Botaka-Yoboma, who is also a former academy player of FC Torpedo Moscow.

He said: 'There is no 'skin colour' in our criteria. We've never noticed it and will never notice it.'

Alexander Zotov, who is head of the All-Russian Union of Footballers, said the 'idiots' weren't representative of football fans in Russia.

'There have been changes in attitude after the World Cup, but a group of idiots still remains,' Zotov said.

'People with a limited worldview exist in any country. We saw how open our society and people were [during the World Cup].' (Daily Mail)

•Photo shows Botaka-Yoboma

Source Daily Sports

Posted July 19, 2018

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