Racism in football has evolved, while authorities make efforts to completely nip it in the bud, some fans refuse to budge.

Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford, who is currently on a season-long loan at Barcelona, was racially abused by a fan in the stands on September 25 during the Catalan giants' 3-1 win over Real Oviedo. TV microphones picked that up, and later it was circulated on social media.

In reaction to this, Spanish authorities have recommended a €4,000 ($4,625) fine for the fan who abused the 27-year-old forward.

"La Liga detected the images on social media and filed a complaint with the National Police," the statement said.

"Subsequently, analysis of footage from the stadium's Organisational Control Unit (UCO) cameras allowed for the identification of the alleged perpetrator. The processing of this proposal will be contingent upon the final decisions made in the criminal proceedings."

The authorities are yet to confirm when a final decision will be taken. This is not the first time Rashford has been subjected to racial abuse. His being a target on several occasions at both the club level and national level has made him an ardent advocate.

Rashford has repeatedly spoken out about racist messages and threats he’s received on platforms like Twitter and Instagram. He’s called for stronger action from tech companies to curb hate speech. Rashford has worked with campaigns like Kick It Out and has urged authorities to hold perpetrators accountable.

In 2021, a man was jailed in England for racially abusing Rashford on social media after the striker had missed a penalty in England's Euro 2020 final shoot-out defeat.

Rashford is among the many players, including Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr, and Ghana international Antoine Semenyo. Quite recently, the UK banned a man who was arrested at Anfield on Friday, August 15, for racially abusing Ghanaian international forward, Antoine Semenyo.

During the first half of the Premier League opener, Semenyo was preparing to take a throw-in when a 47-year-old man passed some offensive comment at him. According to reports, Semenyo asked that the man repeat what he said, he did and even threw a gum at him.

He immediately reported it to referee Anthony Taylor, who paused the match in the 28th minute.

Subsequently, he was seen out of the stadium by the police and held in custody for a racially aggravated public order offence, according to the Merseyside Police on Monday.

He has, however, been granted bail on the following conditions that, not attend any regulated football match in the UK and prohibited from going within one mile of any designated football stadium

A police investigation into the incident is ongoing.

In reaction to this, Gianni Infantino, in an official statement issued on Sunday, August 17, explained that the sport has zero tolerance for discrimination and any other abuse in any form, eulogising Antoine's resilience and stunning display in the game despite the potential emotional distress.

"It is absolutely unacceptable to see the racist abuse aimed at AFC Bournemouth's Antoine Semenyo, which led to a stoppage of their Premier League match against Liverpool FC at Anfield last night.Football has no place for racism or any form of discrimination - Antoine's courage and performance on the pitch, despite such adversity, is a powerful example of strength and dignity for players worldwide", parts of the statement read.

Meanwhile, in May last year, FIFA announced that it had put forward a five-pillar plan aimed at addressing racist abuse in football.

The global governing body stated that it had engaged in an extensive consultation process with current and former players who are committed to instigating change.

One of the plan's key suggestions involves implementing a standard crossed-hands gesture for players to signal racist incidents during matches.

The first pillar of the proposal intends to make racism a specific offence which is included in all member associations’ disciplinary codes and has its own “specific and severe sanctions, including match forfeits”.

Fifa said it will “pause, suspend and abandon games in cases of racism”.

The crossed-hands gesture will be used by referees to signal an in-game procedure in which matches are paused twice and warnings are given, with the game to then be abandoned in the event of further racism.

In pillar three – ‘criminal charges’ – Fifa called for racism to be recognised as a criminal offence in every country, and said it would push for severe sanctions in the countries where it is already an offence.

Fifa also said it would promote education initiatives with schools and governments to “provide a future free of racism”, while an anti-racism panel made up of former players will be set up to review the progress of the proposal.

Earlier that year, Brazil and Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr said he felt “less and less” like playing football because he had suffered repeated racist abuse.

In 2023, a FIFA report found almost 20,000 abusive social media posts were aimed at players, coaches and officials during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

And in 2021, England manager Gareth Southgate called the racist abuse aimed at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after the Euro 2020 final “unforgivable”.