SAO PAULO (AP) 鈥� Four River Plate women's players were arrested by Sao Paulo police and accused of making a racial slur, the Sao Paulo's public security secretariat told The Associated Press on Saturday.
On Friday, a Brazil Ladies Cup soccer semifinal between Argentina's River Plate and Brazilian team Gr锚mio was stopped in the first half after River Plate's Candela D铆az was accused of making a racial slur.
D铆az allegedly made monkey gestures to a ball boy, according to broadcast footage and local media reports.
D铆az was detained along with teammates Juana Cangaro, Milagros Naiquen Diaz, and Camila Ayelen Duarte, the players鈥� lawyer, Thais Sankari, told The AP. They remained in custody on Saturday.
Sankari said the River Plate players reacted only after being provoked.
鈥淲e see in this decision a great arbitrariness and the Brazilian judiciary鈥檚 desire to send a message. They used this case for that purpose,鈥� she said.
After D铆az's gestures on Friday, the Gr锚mio players walked off in protest. The referee showed red cards to six River Plate players following an on-field fight and ended the match because there was no longer the minimum number of players required to continue.
The score was 1-1 but the referee awarded the match to Gr锚mio, which will play in the tournament final on Sunday.
The Brazil Ladies Cup banned Argentina鈥檚 River Plate from the tournament for two years on Saturday.
Tournament organizers said in a statement on Saturday that future editions will immediately ban any participating team whose athletes or staff 鈥渆ngage in racist gestures on the playing field.鈥�
鈥淭he organization reaffirms its anti-racist stance and emphasizes that it will never tolerate such incidents.鈥�
Gr锚mio said on X it was supporting its players, who would file a police report.
鈥淲e regret what happened and condemn any discriminatory acts,鈥� the team said in the statement.
Gr锚mio coach Thaissan Passos said her players told her the River Plate players had previously called them 鈥渕onkeys.鈥�
"Incidents like this cannot keep happening. How long will we keep pretending racism doesn鈥檛 exist?鈥� she told local broadcaster SporTV.
D铆az has not commented publicly.
River Plate also condemned the discriminatory gestures. The club said in a statement on X it was 鈥渢aking the appropriate disciplinary measures and will continue working to eradicate such behavior.鈥�
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AP soccer:
Gabriela S谩 Pessoa, The Associated Press
