FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants teams to forfeit games if fans commit racist abuse after AC Milan walk off

FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants teams to forfeit games if their fans commit racist abuse, following AC Milan's decision to walk off during a match.

The Italian spoke out after Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan suffered alleged racist abuse at Udinese in Serie A on Saturday evening, with the game being temporarily suspended after Maignan walked off the pitch.

Infantino wrote on X: "The events that took place in Udine and Sheffield on Saturday are totally abhorrent and completely unacceptable. The players affected by Saturday's events have my undivided support.

"We need all the relevant stakeholders to take action, starting with education in schools so that future generations understand that this is not part of football or society.

"As well as the three-step process [match stopped, match re-stopped, match abandoned], we have to implement an automatic forfeit for the team whose fans have committed racism and caused the match to be abandoned, as well as worldwide stadium bans and criminal charges for racists.

"Fifa and football shows full solidarity to victims of racism and any form of discrimination. Once and for all: No to racism! No to any form of discrimination!"

AC Milan said they were "appalled" by the incident, which occurred in the first half. The France keeper left the field after speaking to the referee, seemingly pointing to a section of the crowd.

He went down the tunnel before engaging in discussions with team-mates and staff, re-emerging some minutes later as the game got back under way.

Milan released a statement on social media which read: "There is absolutely no place in our game for racism: we are appalled.

"We are with you, Mike."

Milan won the game late on, a Noah Okafor strike handing them a 3-2 victory.

"They made monkey noises and it's not the first time it's happened to me," Maignan told DAZN.

"I was upset to have to go into the changing room like that but I had everyone's support. We talked and then we made the decision to go back out onto the field and make the appropriate response - to win this game.

"I really didn't want to play anymore...but we're a family and I couldn't leave my team-mates like that."

Serie A said on social media: "Lega Serie A condemns any form of racism."

Milan also released a later post on social media, signed by Maignan, that read: "We came back out with a greater desire to win the game because the best response to racism is to win."

Ruben Loftus-Cheek was also on target for the Rossoneri who remain third, six points behind Inter in the Serie A table, who have a game in hand.

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