World Cup pundit sparks outrage with racist comment during Belgium game

The ‘expert’ had only three caps for his national team

Rade Bogdanovic, former striker of Yugoslavia national team and Spanish giants Atlético Madrid, sparked controversy with his comments during the World Cup match between Belgium and Iran.

As the game was being played, Bogdanovic, 56, said that “Black players lack concentration beyond 60 to 80 minutes”.

His comments were made on a World Cup programme aired by Serbia’s public broadcaster (RTS) late on Sunday night.

Bogdanovic was discussing the 66th-minute red card shown to the Belgium defender Nathan Ngoy, as he made the racist remarks.

He even had the audacity to say that he “really” wasn’t racist as he referred to Black players as “those players”.

“I have always said those players – and I’m really not racist – but Black players lack the concentration to last more than 60 to 80 minutes”, he said.

“When we played, we sometimes had to protect our own players to stop them making mistakes,” he added.

While he was challenged by the programme’s host over his remarks, Bogdanovic doubled down on his statement, as he insisted that “the majority lack concentration”.

He was back as pundit in spite of the racist comments

The Serbian public broadcaster had him return to the studio just a day later as a pundit for the Argentina v Austria match, even though there was widespread attention and condemnation on social media for his comments.

Bogdanovic has since apologised in a statement to Reuters, saying: “I sincerely apologise for my statement regarding Black football players.”

The public broadcaster also issued an official apology, as they added that Bogdanovic is not employed by the company but has been working as an “expert commentator” for this World Cup.

“We would like to take this opportunity to apologise, as a broadcaster, for the statement made in our programme concerning members of a particular race,” RTS said.

Bogdanovic played in Europe for German side Werder Bremen after his stint at Atletico Madrid.

For Yugoslavia he made only three appearances in 1997.