Russian Football Coach Says He Will Not Sign Any More Black Players, Jokes About Ebola

The coach of a Russian Premier League team has sparked outrage after remarking that his club was not going to sign any more black players, claiming they had "enough dark-skinned players, we've got six of the things".

FC Rostov coach Igor Gamula also claimed that black players would spread Ebola at the club.

The 54-year-old made the remarks when asked if the club would be signing Cameroonian defender Benoit Angbwa in a post-match press conference.

He said that five of his players were ill with high temperatures and said that Ebola was the cause.

"I'm already worrying it's Ebola," he said, before adding that the comment was "a joke, obviously".

Last year's Russian Cup winners, Rostov appointed Gamula head coach in September, and the team has played in this season's Europa League.

Known for his inflammatory behavior, Gamula was cleared recently by the Russian Football Union after shouting at a journalist and criticizing a referee during a TV interview.

Rostov is currently 14th in Russia's 16 team Premier League, and Friday's 1-0 win against Ural Yekaterinburg was Gamula's first win in four games with the club.

With Russia preparing to host the 2018 World Cup, campaigners have accused Russian authorities of failing to tackle racism.

Recently Piara Powar, a member of Fifa's anti-racism task force, said that there was a danger of an African team being subjected to racist abuse and walking off the pitch during the competition if the country did not do more to combat racist attitudes.

"It is an absolute possibility [in 2018] that we will have a strong, confident African team that will say, 'We are not taking this, we are leaving regardless of what is at stake – this issue is bigger than this match'," Powar said.

"The way that Russian fans are behaving at the moment, the place where the debate is at, I can well imagine that happening. What is happening inside stadiums, the far-right involvement, the levels of racism and attacks that are taking place on minorities in and around football stadiums are at levels completely unacceptable in a country that is going to be hosting the next World Cup."

His remarks came after Uefa refused to fine CSKA Moscow for flouting a Uefa ban on fans attending a home match against Manchester City, after supporters of the club were found to have persistently subjected players and opposing fans to racial abuse.

The head of the tournament organizing committee, Alexey Sorokin, has denied that there is a problem with racism in Russian football.