“We thought about leaving the field,” club president Marco Costa told the Record newspaper, after the duel with Portimonense.

In a statement, the management of the Armasinenense club denounced the “racist and xenophobic insults towards some of our athletes” during the women’s under-16 football match held in Portimonense last weekend.

“Some of our players previously played for Portimonense and faced a hostile atmosphere that went beyond all limits,” said Marco Costa, president of Armasinenense.

“We thought about leaving the field, but the girls insisted on playing until the end. Due to the continued insults, three of them left the field crying, and the families of the athletes on the opposing team insisted on calling one of them black, which is unbearable and intolerable.” Marco Costa said: “It is unacceptable, to the point that the Portimonense coach apologized to our coach for what happened.”

Armasinensis decided to publicize the matter through a statement, “Given the seriousness of what happened and so that the entire sports community knows what happened in a match between teams of young people between the ages of 13 and 15 who experience football as a party and a space for friendship, tolerance and inclusion, and in this game, Unfortunately, we faced exactly the opposite,” said the president of the Armação de Pêra association. The club is not considering taking further action.

By Armando Alves