Eymael: I can never be a racist, several Yanga SC players have supported me

Luc Eymael claimed that he has never been a racist and never will be despite losing his job at Young Africans (Yanga SC) over controversial comments he made regarding Tanzania football fans.

The Belgian coach was fired by the Jangwani Street-based giants after a video of him allegedly making demeaning comments about Tanzanians and especially Timu Ya Wananchi supporters leaked to the public.

Following a 1-1 draw with Mtibwa Sugar in which saw his team finish second in the league, the 60-year-old tore into the club's supporters, claiming they were ignorant about football, and lambasting the conditions he had been working in since arriving in Tanzania.

"The fans can only shout and are like monkeys who are barking ‘babababa’," Eymael told local journalists in audio obtained by Goal. "These fans do not know anything about soccer.

"This place is not for me, playing in pitches at a level of seventh or eighth division in Europe is not for me," he added. "The changing rooms, too, are not for me.

"I am not enjoying your country; you are uneducated people. I don’t have a car, what is that?

"I do not have Wi-Fi and I do not have DSTV. No, no, no!"

The coach has now told Goal he has never been a racist throughout his coaching career in Africa which spans ten years.

“I am not a racist, and you know that very well,” Eymael told Goal. “I have coached in Africa for the last ten years and my record is there to speak for itself, I have never gone to the extent of being a racist because I am not a racist.

“I don’t want to dwell on what happened, because it already happened, I apologised immediately to Yanga fans and Tanzanian people because of the comments and now it is time to move on.

“You can see even some players from Yanga are supporting me, even those I worked with in Kenya are behind me, because they know I am not a racist, this issue has been too much for me now, and gone too far, it is even destroying my family and kids.

“I don’t want to talk anything about it anymore.”

Eymael, who has previously worked in South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia during a nomadic managerial career, is known for speaking his mind and has a history of making controversial remarks. 

During his tenure, Yanga struggled for consistency; he had a target of winning the FA Cup and ensure the team plays in the Caf Confederation Cup next season, but a 4-1 loss to Simba SC in the cup semi-finals ensured he missed out on his target of cup glory.