Kamil Glik’s wife has been targeted with online abuse as the fallout continues from England’s bad-tempered 1-1 draw with Poland in World Cup qualifying on Wednesday.
Marta Glik posted screenshots of the abuse on her Instagram story, which showed users sending her and the rest of her family direct messages that contained death threats in English. It comes after England lodged a complaint that Kamil Glik racially abused Kyle Walker at the end of the first half in Warsaw. The Polish Football Association has denied the allegations against the Poland defender.
The accounts directed explicit and insulting language at Marta Glik and each picture posted by her contained a death threat.
Glik has defended himself against any wrongdoing after players were involved in an ugly clash just before half-time. Harry Maguire took exception to something that happened and the England defender had to be held back by teammates. Television footage showed Glik pinching Walker’s neck. Glik and Maguire were booked.
It emerged that two English FA staff members – the team manager, Emily Webb, and the security head, Tony Conniford – spoke to the fourth official during the interval. The Poland media officer and team manager, Jakub Kwiatkowski, was called out of the home dressing room and discovered that Webb and Conniford had made allegations of racist behaviour. The fourth official called for the Fifa delegate, who took witness statements and said the game should continue.
“The English FA said there had been a racist remark made but Glik says that is completely not true,” Kwiatkowski said on Thursdsay. “I know the players and they have not done that and nor would they. We completely deny any allegations of wrongdoing.”
The FA, having reported the incident to the refereeing team and match delegate, feels it is up to Fifa to look into it. On Thursday, Fifa said: “Fifa is in the process of analysing the official match reports. The relevant information will be assessed by the competent disciplinary bodies in order to decide on next steps.”
