We cannot play football like this. It is not the first time.
In January 2024, AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan walked off a Serie A pitch in Udine after enduring monkey chants from the home crowd — a quiet act of refusal that briefly halted professional football and forced a reckoning with how the sport responds to racism. The league's punishment, one match behind closed doors, was met with frustration by Maignan himself and FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who argued that deterrence requires consequences far more severe than empty stadiums. The incident is not an isolated rupture but part of a longer, unresolved story about whether football's institutions are willing to match their protocols with genuine accountability.
- Maignan heard the monkey noises twice before he acted — the second time, he walked to the fourth official and named what was happening, and within minutes the match stopped entirely.
- Milan's players followed their goalkeeper off the pitch in solidarity, turning a moment of individual humiliation into a collective refusal that the sport could not quietly absorb.
- Serie A's response — one closed-door match for Udinese — landed as a procedural gesture rather than a deterrent, drawing sharp criticism from the very player who had been targeted.
- FIFA president Infantino escalated the debate by calling for automatic match forfeits when fans engage in racist abuse, signaling that the current three-step protocol is widely seen as insufficient.
- Maignan returned to play because his teammates needed him, but his post-match words carried the exhaustion of someone who has been here before and does not believe the system has yet found the will to change.
Mike Maignan heard the monkey noises from the Udinese crowd during a goal-kick in January 2024. He said nothing the first time. The second time, he walked to the fourth official and told him what he was hearing. Within minutes, Milan's players had followed him off the pitch, and the Serie A match had stopped.
The pause lasted roughly ten minutes. When play resumed, Milan won 3-2 — but the result felt secondary to what had preceded it. After the match, Maignan spoke with a weariness that made clear this was not new territory. He said football became impossible under those conditions, yet he had stayed because his teammates were still on the pitch. "We are a family," he said, "and I could not leave them like that."
What troubled Maignan most was not the single incident but the pattern — he emphasized it twice in his post-match comments. He called for Serie A to impose very strong sanctions, arguing that warnings had stopped working and that the league needed to act in ways that would genuinely deter clubs and supporters.
Serie A ordered Udinese to play their next match behind closed doors. The punishment was the formal response available under the league's existing framework, but both Maignan and FIFA president Gianni Infantino found it wanting. Infantino called the abuse totally abhorrent and proposed that clubs whose fans engage in racist chanting should automatically forfeit matches. The current system, he implied, was not working.
Serie A does have a three-step protocol — stop the match, restart, stop again, and finally abandon it if abuse persists. On this day, the first step was enough. But Maignan's frustration pointed to the gap between what the rules prescribe and what actually changes behavior. The protocol existed; the deterrence did not.
Mike Maignan heard it first at the goal-kick—monkey noises rising from the Udinese crowd. The AC Milan goalkeeper said nothing. When it happened again moments later, he walked to the fourth official and told him what he was hearing. Within minutes, Milan's players followed their goalkeeper off the pitch, and the match stopped.
It was January 2024, a Serie A fixture between Udinese and Milan. The abuse Maignan reported was explicit enough that officials took it seriously: the game paused, the players left the field, and roughly ten minutes passed before anyone returned to play. When they did, Milan won 3-2. The result, though, was almost beside the point.
After the match, Maignan spoke with a weariness that suggested this was not new territory for him. He told Sky Sports Italy that he could not continue playing under those conditions—that football itself became impossible when fans were directing racist chanting at him. But he also acknowledged the bind he was in: his teammates were still on the pitch, still depending on him. So he stayed. "We are a family," he said, "and I could not leave my team-mates like that."
What struck Maignan most was not the single incident but the pattern. This was not the first time. He emphasized it twice in his post-match comments, making clear that isolated punishment after the fact was no longer sufficient. He called for Serie A to impose "very strong sanctions," arguing that words and warnings had stopped working. The league needed to act in a way that would actually deter clubs and their supporters from allowing this behavior to continue.
Serie A responded by ordering Udinese to play their next match behind closed doors—one game with no spectators. It was the formal punishment available under the league's existing framework. But the response from Maignan and from Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, suggested the punishment fell short. Infantino called the incidents "totally abhorrent" and went further, proposing that teams whose fans engaged in racist abuse should automatically forfeit matches entirely. The current system, he implied, was not working.
Serie A does have a three-step protocol for racism: stop the match, restart it, stop it again if necessary, and finally abandon it if the abuse persists. On this day, the first step was enough. But the existence of the protocol and the actual deterrent effect of its enforcement are two different things. Maignan's frustration pointed to a gap between what the rules said should happen and what actually changed behavior.
The context mattered too. Udinese sat 17th in the league, just one point above the relegation zone. Milan, in third place, was seven points behind Juventus at the top. These were teams fighting for their seasons, and yet the match had to stop because of what was coming from the stands. That the game resumed and Milan won did not erase what had happened before the whistle blew again.
Notable Quotes
I said we cannot play football like this. It is not the first time it has happened this way. They must hand out very strong sanctions, because talking no longer does anything.— Mike Maignan, AC Milan goalkeeper, speaking to Sky Sports Italy
The incidents were totally abhorrent and called for the implementation of an automatic forfeit of games for teams whose fans commit racist abuse.— Gianni Infantino, FIFA president
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did Maignan stay in the match if he felt he couldn't play under those conditions?
Because his team needed him. He said it plainly—they're a family. Walking off would have meant leaving eleven men down, and that's not how you show solidarity with the people depending on you.
But doesn't staying send a message that the abuse is tolerable?
That's the trap he's in. He stayed, but he also made sure everyone knew it wasn't acceptable. He spoke about it publicly, he called for stronger sanctions. He didn't accept it quietly.
One closed-door match seems light for racist abuse.
It is. And Maignan knows it. He said talking doesn't work anymore—they need consequences that actually change behavior. A closed-door match is a fine, essentially. It doesn't stop the next fan from doing the same thing.
Why does this keep happening in Italian football?
That's the question no one has answered yet. The protocols exist. The rules are there. But something about the enforcement or the culture isn't working. Maignan's frustration is that he's had to report this before.
What would actually stop it?
Infantino suggested automatic forfeits—lose the match, lose the points. That would hurt. But even that assumes the club cares enough to police its own fans, and that's not guaranteed.