Antonio Rudiger racial abuse claim: Protocol in place after Real Madrid defender angered by Pachuca

CHARLOTTE, NC — FIFA's racial abuse protocol has been in place for most of the last year, but there have been few high-profile incidents to put it into practice.

However, the new system is being put to the test at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup after Real Madrid defeated Pachuca 3-1 at Bank of America Stadium to take a big step toward knockout stage qualification.

Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger made his long-awaited return from injury, having been absent since late April because of a knee injury that ended his European campaign early.

Unfortunately, his return was marred by an incident late in the match which will now be investigated further by FIFA. The Sporting News explains what happened and how the protocol will be put into place.

MORE: Detailing the "crossed-arms" gesture available to referees to signal potential racial abuse

Antonio Rudiger claims racial abuse in Club World Cup match vs. Pachuca

For the first time since his late-April knee injury, Rudiger saw the field for Real Madrid, entering play off the bench in the 78th minute to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Deep into stoppage time, Rudiger went down to win a foul and drew the ire of Pachuca defender Gustavo Cabral. Suddenly, with the referee standing quite close by, Rudiger became enraged and had to be held back, causing a slight scuffle.

Even as the referee separated the two individuals and Rudiger returned to his defensive side of the pitch, he continued to bark at the opposition from across the field. Once the final whistle had gone, Rudiger continued to proceed off the pitch angrily, ushered off by team officials as he yelled at various individuals.

The referee appeared to raise his arms in a cross signal, which identified that possible racial abuse had been brought to his attention.

After the match, Real Madrid head coach Xabi Alonso confirmed that Rudiger had brought the incident to the referee's attention and that the matter was now in the hands of FIFA.

"Toni [Antonio Rudiger] has told us something," Alonso said in his post-match press conference following the win over Pachuca. "We support him, and we'll see [what happens]. I think the anti-racism protocol is now activated and it'll be up to FIFA to investigate, but if it happened, decisions will be made and we support Antonio because it's unacceptable. There's no tolerance for that in football stadiums. That's what Antonio said, and we believe him."

When the journalist followed up to confirm if Rudiger indeed claimed to have been the target of racial abuse, Alonso simply responded, "that's being investigated."

What is the FIFA anti-racism protocol?

Per the latest FIFA regulations, referees have the ability to take action if racial abuse is brought to their attention.

Officials have been instructed to cross their arms at the wrists in an X to signal to the referee and viewers of an instance of racist abuse.

Should this occur, the referee will immediately begin the three-step process already in place to handle racial abuse. The first of the three steps is to pause the game until the abuse ends, and should it not, the next two steps of suspending the match and abandoning the match will be taken in appropriate measure.

— Papo de Boleiros 🇧🇷 (@_papoboleiros) June 22, 2025

Brazilian referee Ramon Abatti visibly indicated his crossed-arms gesture after speaking with an agitated Rudiger, indicating that racial abuse had potentially occurred.

At this point, it will be up to FIFA to investigate the incident. If they do indeed determine that Rudiger was the target of racial abuse, they can potentially suspend or ban the guilty party, or take further action against the club itself.