A World Cup discrimination monitor has demanded that FIFA remove a video assistant referee (VAR) after he displayed a hand gesture associated with white supremacist groups during an official broadcast on Sunday.
The incident occurred in the Dallas broadcast center before the opening tournament match between Germany and Curacao in Houston.
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Australian official Shaun Evans flashed an upside-down "OK" symbol on camera.
The Fare network, an organization that partners with FIFA and UEFA to monitor discriminatory and racist behavior at international soccer matches, identified the gesture as a hate symbol linked to global far-right movements.
"Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside down ‘OK’ hand symbol used as a ‘white power’ symbol in global far-right circles," said the Fare network in an official statement.
The monitoring group insisted that the official must be barred from further participation in the ongoing international tournament due to the nature of the broadcasted signal.
"Clearly this official should have no further role to play in this World Cup," said the Fare network, which characterized the hand sign as "neo-Nazi".
The monitoring group also questioned why a high-level video supervisor would display such a signal globally while knowing television cameras were focused directly on him.
"Why is a VAR supervisor using this symbol at a global football event at the very moment he knows the cameras are on him?"
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