Teams unite against racism

'No to racism'
In Birmingham tonight, the Netherlands team will line up against an England side whose own red shirts will carry the message 'No to racism'. Dutch captain Phillip Cocu, who misses the match through injury, said: "It's a big game and there'll be a lot of attention on the match, so it should get people thinking. Racism is a bad thing and I want it to be kept out of football. Everybody is equal no matter what colour their skin. Racism is stupid. The black-and-white kit is a positive thing."

Simple message
England coach Sven-Göran Eriksson said: "The message is a simple one, but very important. The team and the fans will be saying 'No to racism'." Eriksson's words were echoed by Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, whose players will swap red and green for black and white in the Dublin friendly against the Republic of Ireland.

Scolari hope
"This type of campaign is very important in the eradication of racism from our sport, from our game," Scolari said. "But I hope it is not only football that will give an example of what needs to be done. Every one of us has to fight this, day by day, if society is ever to rid itself of racism."

Italians 'united'
While Russia will don special shirts in Cagliari tonight, their Italian hosts will take the field in T-shirts carrying the slogan 'United against racism' and will then wear their white away kit during the match.

Russian admission
A statement from the Football Union of Russia read: "In our country this problem unfortunately is becoming more and more acute, and some fans are still to learn racial tolerance. We took the only right step of joining this campaign to publicly pronounce our negative feelings about racism."

'Sign of stupidity'
Russia striker Aleksandr Kerzhakov said: "Football, as the most popular sport, unites people, and if every sportsman shows his or her opposition to such a barbaric thing as racism then I hope it will make someone have second thoughts about their own stance." The Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro said: "Racism is a dangerous sign of stupidity. We have to do everything we can to fight against it."

Armbands
These are not the only current expressions of opposition to racism. In France on Sunday, RC Lens and Paris Saint-Germain FC wore black and white in their Ligue 1 game, and players across the continent are wearing black-and-white wristbands.

UEFA efforts
UEFA is making its own contribution to the fight, notably through its association with the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network. FARE is one of UEFA's four main charity partners and UEFA together with FARE issued an Anti-Racism Good Practice Guide, which set out practical steps that could be taken to tackle the issue. (Click here to read more.)