6th May 2026
May 6 – Merseyside Police arrested an Everton fan during the club’s Premier League match against Manchester City for alleged racist abuse aimed at Antoine Semenyo.
Police said they had arrested a 71-year-old man from Nottinghamshire “on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence” after “supporters and stewards reported that racist abuse was shouted by a fan”.
“He has now been bailed with conditions, which includes not to go within one mile of any designated sports stadium in a period of up to four hours before kick-off, during the match and up to four hours after the game has ended.”
In a statement, Everton said: “Racism and discrimination in all forms are completely unacceptable. They have no place in our stadia, our sport or in society.”
“The club will continue to work closely with the authorities to support their investigation and will take the strongest possible action in line with its zero-tolerance approach.”
It’s not the first time that Semenyo, 26 and a Ghana international, has faced racist abuse this season. At his former club Bournemouth, the player reported being racially abused by a fan at Anfield against Liverpool.
At the time, he spoke about punishment for such abuses: “It could be jail time, it could be banned from stadiums for a lifetime, it could be anything along the lines of that, but I feel like there has to be something else.”
City also issued a statement after England defender Marc Guehi, 25, suffered online racist abuse following the match. The club wrote: “We are incredibly disappointed to hear that Marc Guehi was subject to a series of vile racist social media posts last night.
“We will continue to offer our full support to both Antoine and Marc and never accept discrimination of any kind in our game.”
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