The Scandal Involving Roman Zozulya

On December 15, 2019, a Spanish Segunda match between Rayo Vallecano and Albacete had to be stopped after the first half. This happened because of offensive chants directed at the visiting team's forward, Ukrainian Roman Zozulya. The background to this dates back to 2017.

On February 1, 2017, it was announced that Roman Zozulya was moving to Rayo Vallecano on loan. The move to the new club was accompanied by mass protests by fans. They accused Roman of links to far-right organizations in Ukraine. As an example, they cited his words of support for the Ukrainian army in the war in Donbas.

Rayo fans themselves belong to far-left organizations, some of whom fought on the side of the occupiers in Donbas. So they used pro-Russian labels, calling Roman Zozulya a "neo-Nazi".