The European soccer season officially ended on June 1 with the familiar sight of Vinicius Jr. grinning in celebration. The 23-year-old Brazilian, one of the best players in the world right now, won his seventh major trophy with Real Madrid after scoring the second goal in the final of UEFA Champions League — the European soccer equivalent of the NBA playoffs.
Since arriving in Spain as a teenager, Vinicius has faced down racist taunts with remarkable dignity and determination.
Nine days later, Vinicius Jr. celebrated another win: prison sentences for three fans of rival Spanish team Valencia who were convicted of racially abusing him during a game in May 2023. The first convictions for racism in a Spanish football stadium marked a successful battle in a war Vinicius Jr. has bravely waged for years.
Since arriving in Spain as a teenager, Vinicius has faced down racist taunts with remarkable dignity and determination. A tearful Vinicius Jr. spoke about the impact of the abuse in a news conference in April. Fans hung an effigy of him from a bridge in Madrid and chants calling him a monkey have been heard repeatedly in stadiums. That particular slur has become so commonplace that a child was investigated for using it at a Real Madrid-Valencia game this spring.
The star’s experience is far from unique. Black soccer players have faced incidents of racist chanting in Europe for the past 50 years. But the refusal of Vinicius Jr. to shrug off the taunts cannot be overstated. Following the successful prosecution of the Valencia fans, Vinicius Jr. embraced the role of the victor.
“I’m not a victim of racism,” he said. “I am a tormentor of racists.”
That boldness, which matches his exciting, relentless play on the soccer pitch, has not eradicated racism, of course. But it has arguably sparked a political and cultural inflection point. The chanting in Valencia that resulted in the recent convictions sparked criticism from the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and led to sustained diplomatic pressure on Spain to toughen its anti-racism laws.
Spain has taken initiatives of its own in response, with police granted new powers to suspend sporting events and evict fans. (The Spanish soccer league has its own long-running campaigns against racism.) And El Pais, Spain’s center-left newspaper of record, has published several damning editorials on soccer’s “racist shame” that has for too long been ignored, if not enabled.
Around the world, prejudice continues to surge. The forces of progress are being met with retro conservatism. In Europe’s recent E.U. elections, far-right movements were shockingly successful, and far-right politicians now hold close to a quarter of the parliament’s 720 seats.
But in soccer, arguably one of the most multiethnic and democratic spheres of European life, voices pushing back against this bigotry can provide a clarity that politicians struggle to match. Voices pushing back against this bigotry can provide a clarity that politicians struggle to match. German soccer player Joshua Kimmich and coach Julian Nagelsmann sharply criticized a recent survey from a broadcaster asking fans if they would prefer to see more white players on the national team. The survey was an ill-advised element of a documentary exploring the diverse international backgrounds of the current Germany team ahead of the European championships, which begin on Friday. The German media has been doing a lot of soul-searching ahead of the championships — and waxing a little nostalgic for 2006, when Germany hosted the World Cup and Europe at least seemed a more peaceful and socially harmonious place. The biggest stars of this summer’s event are expected to be a German player with Nigerian and Polish roots (Jamal Musiala), an English player with Irish heritage (Harry Kane) and a French player with a Cameroonian and Algerian background (Kylian Mbappe). It is a lineup that highlights the melting pot that is elite European soccer. Vinicius Jr. will not appear in the Euros, but he will also have a busy summer as he and his Brazilian teammates vie for the Copa America in the U.S. And no matter what happens in that tournament, it’s clear Vinicius Jr. will not be backing down from his broader cultural crusade. “May other racists be afraid, ashamed and hide in the shadows,” he declared. “More will come.”
Dan Billingham
Dan Billingham is a freelance sports journalist based in Europe with a strong interest in soccer ownership and finances as well as the game's international dynamics. 
