Teammate saw red

Ex-Salzburger is racially insulted

Hee-chan Hwang

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

There was a huge commotion at a test match between Premier League club Wolverhampton and Italian side Como. The former Salzburg player Hee-chan Hwang was racially insulted. A teammate who rushed to his aid and became violent was shown a red card.

It was 69 minutes into the game in the sportingly insignificant test match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Como 1907 when a row broke out.

The starting point is said to have been a racist comment made by a Como player towards former Salzburg striker Hee-chan Hwang (who played in the city of Mozart between 2015 and 2020).

Hwang was shocked and received support from his teammates. One of them, Daniel Podence, even got violent with the Como player who insulted Hwang and was shown the red card.

"Channy (Hwang's nickname, ed.) heard a racist remark, which was really disappointing," explained Wolves coach Gary O'Neil after the game.

O'Neil: "I'm proud of him"
"I asked Channy if we should take the team off the pitch or if he wanted to go out, but he wanted to carry on. He was sure we should continue the game."

The disappointment was written all over Hwang's face after the game, however. "Understandably," as O'Neil noted. "But I'm proud of him for putting the team first in this difficult moment."

For Hwang, it was not the first time he had been racially insulted. A similar incident occurred two years ago in a pre-season match against Portuguese side SC Farense.

Wolves, meanwhile, announced that they would be lodging "a formal complaint regarding the incident" with the European Football Association (UEFA).