You're reading: Soccer player Roman Zozulya falsely accused in Spain of supporting neo-Nazis

A false news report in Spain has caused trouble for the Ukrainian professional soccer player Roman Zozulya, who has since faced claims from fans that he supports neo-Nazis.

Zozulya, a 27-year-old soccer player for the Ukrainian national team and Spain’s Betis, was pictured by a Spanish newspaper in a T-shirt with Ukraine’s national symbol, the Tryzub (trident) and the words from the work of the Ukrainian national poet Taras Shevchenko, at the airport of Seville, Spain, in the summer of 2016.

The newspaper wrongly reported that he was wearing a T-shirt with the logo of Right Sector, a far-right nationalist political party.

Right Sector’s logo, while styled on the Tryzub, has a sword in the middle of the figure.

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Zozulya in his T-shirt (L) and Right Sector’s logo (R).

Although the newspaper later withdrew the story, the erroneous report triggered protests from fans of Spanish soccer club Vallecano, who branded Zozulya a Nazi supporter. Zozulya denies having any affiliation with Nazi sympathizers.

Zozulya had been transferred to Vallecano for six months from Betis. But at a team training session on Feb. 1, fans were outraged by the Ukrainian player’s presence. A poster appeared in a stadium, reading “Vallecano is not a place for Nazis, nor for Presa (Raul Martin Presa, the president of the club). Go away.”

Fans protesting Zozulya’s transfer accused him of having neo-Nazi views, shouting “Get out of here, son of a bitch, we don’t want Nazis. If you are so racist, you won’t wear our shirt,” according to a report in Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Zozulya also suffered attacks from Spanish users of social media. He was, however, supported by Ukrainian Twitter and Facebook users, who posted with the hashtag #ProudofZozulya.

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Ukrainians supported Zozulya with hashtag #ProudofZozulya.

Zozulya also appealed to Vallecano supporters in an open letter.

“These fans know nothing about my life and my country,” he wrote, according to El Pais. “I have never been linked to any neo-Nazi or paramilitary groups.”

In Ukraine, Zozulya played for Dnipro and the national soccer team. He has been pictured for various fundraising campaigns to support Ukraine’s army in its fight against Kremlin-backed forces in eastern Ukraine.

Spain’s La Liga professional football league has declared it will guarantee the safety of the player, the New York Times reported. La Liga officials met with representatives of the club and the Spanish Footballers Association and agreed “to guarantee the player’s safety, whether in carrying out his professional work, or in his personal life.”

Following the incident at the training session, Zozulya was transferred back to Betis. However, he cannot now play for them as the transfer window has already closed, according to the New York Times.

His co-players at Betis expressed support for Zozulya in a statement on their website.

“The following situation seems very serious, and we feel that any of us could be the victim of similar treatment at any time,” the players wrote on the Real Betis Balompié website on Feb. 2.

Kyiv Post journalist Bermet Talant contributed to this report.