Natália Kalužová, the partner of Slovak football goalkeeper Dominik Greif, was harassed by a group of men after Thursday’s semi-final of the Spanish Super Cup. The meeting in which Greif’s Mallorca lost to Real Madrid 0:3 was played in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The AP agency reported on the incident on Friday.
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Dominik Greif during the match in Saudi Arabia.
The incident should have happened after the end of the match, when the families of the players were leaving the stadium. According to Kalužová, a group of fans started harassing them when they were waiting outside before leaving for the hotel.
“They pushed us and groped us. They shoved phones in our faces and filmed us. They insulted us in Arabic, recorded us without consent and attacked us,” Marca Kalužová, who was visibly shaken, told the Spanish daily. She stated that she could not sleep all night.
Cristina Palavrová, the wife of Greif’s teammate Dani Rodriguez, expressed herself similarly.
“We were leaving together with the children and we had no security. The truth is that some men from this country started taking close-up photos of us and harassing us. The same thing happened to ‘Natali’, Dominik Greif’s partner.
I was with my daughter who was sleeping. We felt uncomfortable. We had no one to protect us. It was very bad,” Palavrová said according to AP.
According to Mallorca officials, a total of 250 club supporters were harassed in Jeddah. Marca also posted a video on its website in which several men dressed in Real Madrid jerseys were seen filming and laughing at Mallorca fans.
The club from the Balearic Islands informed the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) about the incidents.
Mallorca official Alfonso Diaz said he was confident the organizers would use all necessary means to ensure similar situations do not happen again. The federation said its security personnel intervened as soon as they learned of the incident.
The competition was moved to Saudi Arabia under the leadership of former RFEF president Luis Rubiales in 2020. Even then, human rights organizations spoke out against this decision, citing the mistreatment of women and minorities by the regime there.
“Spanish football must evaluate the direction we want and should go. However, the federation decides on that,” added Diaz.
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
