Marko
Nikolic the
head coach of Slovenia’s league leaders, Olimpija
Ljubljana has been
banned for the final seven games of the season for racially abusing one of his
own players, Blessing Eleke.
It was widely
reported that he called Blessing Eleke a “black idiot” after he felt the
Nigerian, 20, spent too long celebrating an equaliser. The club initially
refused to suspend the Serb, but the Slovenian FA intervened “because of clear
racism”. The game against Zavrc ended 1-1 thanks to Eleke’s first home goal for
Olimpija following his January move from league rivals Gorica.
Nikolic
said he made an emotional reaction as Eleke’s celebration meant there was less
time for a winner against and never intended to offend the player racially.
He also said
that he had spoken to Eleke and that he understood my reaction because
emotional outbursts of this kind can happen. I apologise for my reaction generated
solely by the rush to score the winning goal after getting a 92nd-minute
equaliser and I thank the team for not judging my act as racist.
Olimpija
president Milan Mandaric, the former Leicester and Portsmouth owner, had
defended Nikolic, saying, We have come to the conclusion that the coach did not
target the player’s race.
Culled www.today.ng
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