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16th July 2024
04:18pm BST
Wolves will submit a formal complaint to Uefa after their star striker Hwang Hee-chan was allegedly racially abused in a pre-season friendly against Como.
Hee-chan reported the incident midway through the second-half, after which teammate Daniel Podence was sent off for punching an opponent over the alleged remark.
Following this, the training match was completed due to the South Korean international Hee-chan wanting to continue play.
However, since then Como have released an official club statement on the alleged incident:
"Our club does not tolerate racism and condemns all forms of it in the strongest possible way.
"We spoke to the defender in question to understand what was said. He has told us the comment he made, to his co defender, was ignore "ignore him, he thinks he's Jackie Chan".
"Having spoken to our player at length, we are confident this was in reference to the player's name, and to the constant reference of 'Channy' made by his own team-mates on the pitch.
"As far as our club is concerned our player did not say anything in a derogatory manner.
"We are disappointed that the reactions of certain Wolves players has seen the incident blown out of proportion."
Fans on X were left far from impressed at this statement:
A perfect example of HOW NOT to respond to allegations of racism: https://t.co/ERBQ9WJPc7
— Dougie Critchley (@DougieCritchley) July 16, 2024
The Wolves manager Gary O'Neil was open to abandoning the match and expressed how proud he was of his player for continuing in a post-match interview:
"Channy heard a racist remark which is really disappointing. I spoke to Channy about it, checked whether he wanted to take the team off or come off himself, but he was keen the team carried on and got the work they needed.
"He’s really disappointed, of course, and understandably. I’m proud of the fact that he wanted to carry on and put his team first in a difficult moment for him. He knew it was a pre-season trip and he wanted the lads to work and get their minutes, even though he’d suffered something hugely offensive."
"Channy will be OK, he’ll get our full support and we’ll pick him up in the morning (Tuesday) and make sure he’s OK. It’s a together group.”
Wolves won the game 1-0 thanks to a Matt Doherty header.
Two years ago, Hee-chan also suffered alleged racial abuse against Farense.
Wolves made an official statement following the game on Monday evening stating:
"Racism or discrimination in any form is completely unacceptable and should never be left unchallenged, and Wolves will be submitting a formal complaint to Uefa regarding the incident."
