Como claim alleged racist abuse of Wolves forward Hwang Hee-chan ‘blown out of proportion’

The Italian club claim their player compared the South Korea forward to the martial arts stuntman Jackie Chan, who is from Hong Kong

Wolves are supporting Hwang Hee-chan after the South Korea forward was allegedly targeted with racist abuse (Getty Images)

The Football Association will help gather evidence from Wolves over alleged racist abuse directed at their player Hwang Hee-chan during a pre-season friendly against Italian side Como, the PA news agency understands.

The Premier League club are in dialogue with the FA over the incident which occurred during a match in Marbella on Monday. The matter is outside of the FA’s jurisdiction, and it is understood any evidence gathered would be referred to the Italian football federation (FIGC).

Como issued a statement on Tuesday outlining their version of events, saying the incident had been “blown out of proportion” after speaking to “the defender in question to understand what was said”.

Uefa has stated it cannot investigate because it was not a match in one of its competitions, but sources close to Wolves believe European football’s governing body will still have to be involved in some capacity.

Hwang reported an incident midway through the second half, prompting a furious reaction from team-mates and the dismissal of Wolves winger Daniel Podence for throwing a punch.

Hwang rejected the opportunity to immediately abandon the match.

Hwang Hee-chan rejected the opportunity to abandon the friendly (REUTERS)

Como played down the incident in their statement, claiming that the player in question had made reference to Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan after hearing Wolves players using a nickname for their South Korean forward.

“Our club does not tolerate racism and condemns all forms of it in the strongest possible way,” read a club statement, posted on X.

“We spoke to the defender in question to understand what was said. He has told us the comment he made, to his co-defender, was ‘ignore him, he thinks he’s Jackie Chan’.

“Having spoken to our player at length, we are confident this was in reference to the player’s name, and to the constant references of ‘Channy’ made by his own team-mates on the pitch.

“As far as our club is concerned our player did not say anything in a derogatory manner.

“We are disappointed that the reaction of certain Wolves players has seen the incident blown out of proportion.”

A spokesperson for Uefa had earlier said: “The fight to eliminate racism, discrimination and intolerance from football is a major priority for our organisation.

“Discriminatory behaviour is not tolerated in Uefa’s competitions. Any such behaviour would fall under Article 14 of the Uefa disciplinary regulations.

“While Uefa will continue its fight to eliminate all forms of discrimination in football, the organisation’s disciplinary bodies can only take action for incidents that take place in Uefa competitions.”

PA