U.S. youth international Gloster victim of racial abuse in U-23 match

United States youth international Chris Gloster was the victim of alleged racial abuse during Hannover’s Under-23 side’s match against Lubeck on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old Gloster featured for Hannover II in the German fourth division, where he has made 13 appearances this season, in a 1-1 draw.

However, during the match, Gloster was targeted for abuse by the travelling Lubeck supporters, with the club alleging he was called a “monkey” among other offensive remarks.

The teenager was consoled by his team-mates after the match, with the club revealing Gloster was left distraught by the abuse, but filed a complaint.

"Chris was sitting in the dressing room with tears in his eyes after the final whistle," Michael Tarnat, head of Hannover’s academy, said in a statement on the club’s website. “He was permanently and massively insulted during the match. Lines were crossed.

“Of course, such a young guy does not just stick it out also decided to report the matter to the association.”

Gloster received support from team-mates on social media following the incident, with the hashtag #saynotoracism.

In addition, Gloster also had messages of support sent to him by his fellow youth internationals, with Bayern Munich youngster Chris Richards, along with Wolfsburg’s Ulysses Llanez and the Philadelphia Union’s Mark McKenzie among those to tweet in solidarity.

A former New York Red Bulls academy player, Gloster signed with Hannover in March 2018 and has featured for the United States at multiple youth levels. He is likely to be among those in Tab Ramos’ squad for the U-20 World Cup in Poland this summer.

Gloster is the latest in a wave of high-profile cases of players being subjected to racism this season. In the last month, England international Danny Rose was the victim of monkey chants while playing against Montenegro, while Juventus’ Moise Kean suffered similar abuse while playing against Cagliari in Serie A.

In an attempt to protest these high-profile incidents, the Professional Footballers Association announced Thursday they would be encouraging a social media boycott on April 19, with players posting an #Enough graphic on their accounts before the boycott.