Football icon George Weah has called on fans to \u201cforget about calling each other names and embrace each other\u201d as part of the fight to rid football of racism during a two-day session of the FIFA Players\u2019 Voice Panel (PVP) in Rabat, Morocco.<\/p>\n
Established under one of the five pillars of FIFA\u2019s Global Stand Against Racism, which was unanimously adopted by the 211 FIFA Member Associations at the 74th FIFA Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, in May 2024, the PVP is a 16-member group comprising legends of the men\u2019s and women\u2019s game committed to ending racism in football.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I came here to do is for the world to know that there is no need for racism. We must enjoy the beautiful game, walk together in the stadium, sing together and when we are defeated, we try again. This is what the game is about , enjoy it,\u201d said former Liberia international and honorary PVP captain Weah, who served as Liberia\u2019s President from 2018 to 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what is important is for us to forget about calling each other names and embrace each other and make friends that\u2019s what the world is all about. War is no good. Racism is a disease. We cannot continue to condone racism in public spaces, especially on the field where everybody is supposed to be working together, enjoying together, having fun and enjoying the good of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weah, who enjoyed a decorated playing career with AS Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan, added: \u201cI want to thank FIFA President Gianni Infantino for putting me on this team. As a former footballer and former leader of Liberia, my voice is critical because I played the game and I experienced racism during my time. I thought I\u2019d be one of the players in a position to say \u2018No\u2019 to racism.\u201d<\/p>\n
The workshop, chaired by Weah, included FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who provided the closing remarks, alongside FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstr\u00f6m, Chief Football Officer Jill Ellis and Deputy Chief Member Associations Officer Gelson Fernandes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cause that brings us together here is definitely the most important cause that we need to fight for and attack in the right way,\u201d said Infantino. \u201cWe have been talking enough, now we have to act. Of course, it is not easy, but that time is over. You have done great work in the last two days. This is the beginning of our actions, and let\u2019s make sure that your voice the players\u2019 voice is heard.\u201d<\/p>\n
The session marked the first in-person meeting of the PVP since its formation in September 2025, following several virtual discussions. Members present included Mercy Akide (Nigeria), Iv\u00e1n C\u00f3rdoba (Colombia), Khalilou Fadiga (Senegal), Jessica Houara (France), Maia Jackman (New Zealand), Lotta Schelin (Sweden) and Mikael Silvestre (France).<\/p>\n
Hailing from 14 FIFA Member Associations and representing all six confederations, the PVP\u2019s mission is to monitor and advise on anti-racism strategies, participate in educational initiatives and contribute to reforms.<\/p>\n
The panel heard presentations from the Football Association, the German Football Association, and the Fare Network\u2019s Piara Powar, who shared insights on anti-discrimination match observer programmes.<\/p>\n
Panel members were also briefed on youth-focused initiatives, with former Argentina international Juan Pablo Sor\u00edn becoming the first to address young players on racism at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile in October. Educational sessions were also held at the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women\u2019s World Cup in Morocco and FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the broader mission, Weah said: \u201cSo many people around the world travel to watch football it is peace, it is love, it is fun. What we\u2019re trying to do is to kick racism out of sports. It\u2019s not good for sports. This is the effort we\u2019re making to make sure that we all universally fight against it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weah also praised FIFA\u2019s diversity and leadership, saying: \u201cDiversity is what makes FIFA what it is. We have a strong leader in Infantino who listens to everybody. In a ship, we are a family sailing towards prosperity, solidarity, and peace it\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Channel Africa\u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14952,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-14951","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Weah enjoyed a decorated playing career with AS Monaco.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Weah enjoyed a decorated playing career with AS Monaco.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/14951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/14951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19393,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/14951\/revisions\/19393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=14951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}