The UK has 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.

The FIFA president also assured Semenyo of the governing body’s full support, citing the role of the Players’ Voice Panel, established in 2024 as part of FIFA’s five-pillar strategy against racism.

“The Players' Voice Panel, established as part of the five pillars against racism adopted by FIFA Congress in 2024, will be in touch with Antoine and is monitoring these situations closely.

"We are committed to ensuring that players are respected and protected, and that competition organisers and law enforcement authorities take appropriate action.Everyone at FIFA, The Players' Voice Panel and the whole football community stands firmly with Antoine..." Infantino added.

Infantino however pledged his and that of his outfit's support to implement all the necessary measures to ensure that, such demeaning acts are eradicated in the football ecosystem.

"...we will continue to offer our unequivocal support to him, Bournemouth, the Premier League and The FA to ensure strong deterrents are in place and actions taken to eradicate racism and discrimination from our game,” he added.

Despite the incident, Semenyo produced a standout performance, scoring twice to pull Bournemouth level at 2-2, before late strikes from Federico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah secured a 4-2 victory for Liverpool.

His impressive display has earned him praise from Liverpool legend Steve McManaman.

Liverpool notched two goals in the first half, with Hugo Ekitike opening the scoring in the 37th minute, followed by another from Cody Gakpo doubling the lead in the 49th minute, just a few minutes after halftime.

AFC Bournemouth made an impressive comeback with equalisers at the 64th and 76th minutes, all goals from Antoine Semenyo displaying his pace, strength, and clinical finishing to level the match.

Liverpool responded quickly, with Federico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah finding the net to secure a 4-2 victory for the hosts in the 88th and 90+4th minute (stoppage time).

Reflecting on Semenyo’s performance, McManaman expressed admiration and noted that Liverpool missed out on signing him.

“Antoine Semenyo ran 50 yards to score that goal after signing a long-term contract,” he said on Premier League Production.

“He is strong and built for the Premier League, and anytime he has the ball, he looks dangerous going forward. For me, he should be playing for clubs like Liverpool. Throughout this summer, he was linked to Liverpool until Mohamed Salah extended his contract,” McManaman added.

Semenyo later expressed his gratitude to the football fraternity for their support following the racist attack.

He posted, “Last night at Anfield will stay with me forever – not because of one person’s words, but because of how the entire football family stood together… Football showed its best side when it mattered most.

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”.