Czech police suspend investigation into racist abuse of Romani children by Baník Ostrava football fans
05 March 2026
Czech police announced that the criminal investigation into the racist abuse of Romani child footballers by drunken Baník Ostrava fans has been shelved because investigators were “unable to track down a specific perpetrator.” As reported by Romea.cz, the Prague Police spokesman stated that “criminal investigators postponed the case because they were unable to establish facts justifying the initiation of a criminal prosecution.”
The incident, which took place on 22nd November 2025, prompted angry condemnation from Czech President Petr Pavel and Human Rights Commissioner Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková. The Romani boys from the Mongaguá club were traveling by train from Děčín via Prague back to Ostrava. According to eyewitnesses, the Baník Ostrava fans subjected the children to a terrifying ordeal of racist abuse and intimidation. Fearful for the youngsters’ safety, the team coaches decided not to transfer to the connecting train, because the Baník fans also intended to board. The children had to wait several hours for an alternative connection and did not get home until late that night.
On 19 December 2025, after welcoming the young Romani footballers to Prague Castle, Czech President Petr Pavel expressed his dismay over the incident: “How they were recently treated made me angry, because such things should not be happening. We all live in the same country, and if we are to behave with decency, then it should be towards each other.”
For her part, Human Rights Commissioner Šimáčková-Laurenčíková noted some football clubs have made more significant efforts than others to deal with racism among their fan base, and called for a clear and proactive response to cultivate a better “environment both inside and outside the stadium.”
Not an isolated incident
The President’s meeting with the Romani youngsters came just one week after the Disciplinary Committee of the League Football Association (LFA) fined FC Hradec Králové €2,500 for racist chants from their fans targeting Cameroonian winger Alexis Alégué. The Cameroonian player noted on Instagram that fans were “making monkey noises” and that this was not the first time he had been subjected to such abuse: “Since I started playing here, it’s already happened four or five times, and still nothing is changing. The league needs to do something about it!!!”
Neither is racist abuse in sports limited to football, the same month the Baník fans racially abused the children from the Mongaguá club, dozens of fans of Prostějov's ice hockey team were recorded marching through the streets of Hodonín chanting anti-Roma racist slogans on 8 November 2025. Posts appeared on social media showing the Prostějov ice hockey fans chanting “G*psy, G*psy” and singing “The corpse of a g*psy floats on the water as nature intended” on the streets of Hodonín.
The Czech Ice Hockey Association condemned the racist speech, but said that it has no power to start a disciplinary proceedings in the matter because it happened outside the stadium. The director of the Prostějov ice hockey club stated that the clubdoes not have direct control over fans’ behavior outside the grounds of its stadium, but “the club condemns such behavior unequivocally,” adding that he had not heard of the incident until Romea.cz contacted him for comment about it.
The problem of endemic racism in the Czech Republic hit international headlines back in 2021, following an incident during the Europa League Rangers-Slavia Prague match when Prague’s Ondrej Kudela was seen cupping his hand and whispering something into the ear of Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara, a Finnish national of Sierra Leonean descent. Kamara reacted angrily and complained to the referee, and later told the media that the Slavia player called him a "fucking monkey". The day after the game, a group of Slavia ultras posted a photo on social media holding up a banner that read: Kamara: Just a N*****.
According to one expert, the prevailing interpretation amongst the Czech media was that the Slavia player’s ‘alleged’ outburst was provoked by the brutal play of Rangers, but his words “probably were not racist”; adding that the incident hasn’t sparked the much-needed “deep discussion” about racism in Czech sport and society.
The 2023 report Moving On by the ERRC and partners revealed that the problem of racism in sport runs deeper than racist abuse by fans, to include direct and indirect discrimination against Roma to prevent youngsters from even engaging in sports and physical activities. Interviewees described how schools, sports clubs, and municipal authorities have directly discriminated against Roma.
In Rotava, one person who organises weekly sports activities for Roma described the lengths to which the local administration and schools would go to deny Roma access to facilities such as playing fields and gyms, deeming the children to be "undeserving". This obstruction is indicative of more pervasive anti-Roma racism in the town, where the mayor is known for his hostility to Roma; is engaged with attempts at evictions of Romani families and non-renewal of rental contracts to remove them from public housing; and blocked provision of free school lunches, which would have greatly benefited marginalised Romani children.
Moving on in Ostrava to show ‘football unites us’
By contrast in Ostrava, the response to the racist incident on the train has been to harness the potential of sport to pit hope against hate. The Mayor of Ostrava, Jan Dohnal condemned the incident and stated:
“I consider the recent assaults on Mongaguá’s young Romani footballers, who were subjected to vulgar attacks during their train journey, to be totally unacceptable. Any insults to young children and athletes are beyond the pale and have no place in our society.”
The mayor described the work of the Mongaguá project in socially excluded localities as fundamentally important, not only to the development of sports skills, but also in strengthening the life opportunities and self-confidence of Romani children; and he promised financial and material support for upcoming activities.
Following meetings with the mayor and representatives of FC Baník Ostrava, Mongaguá project founder Lukáš Pulko, and coach Jaroslav Horváth called for "A united No to racism!", and stated that all parties agreed that racism both in society and sport should be faced jointly: “Let’s believe truth and love will always triumph over lies and hatred.”
FC Baník Ostrava has promised to have its players participate in the nationwide Mongaguá Across the Street tournament, later in February. Mongaguá players from Ostrava will visit the Baník Ostrava A team’s training session, both sides will join the campaign against racism, and a joint photo with the clear message of Say No to Racism is also planned. The next step will be to have Mongaguá’s Romani fans and players attend a Baník Ostrava match in the spring. Pulko stated “I believe that through this action we can show, together, that football unites us.”
A renewed and thorough police investigation to identify and prosecute the racist hoodlums on the train from Děčín to Prague on 22 November 2025, would provide a fitting closure to this story.
