LONDON — A statement on Nicolas Anelka’s Facebook page quotes the West Bromwich Albion striker as challenging the English Football Association’s charge for a racially aggravated gesture.
Anelka wrote: “I ask the English FA to kindly lift the charges alleged against me. And I repeat, I am not anti-Semitic or racist.”
He was charged on Tuesday by the association for performing a gesture considered to be anti-Semitic while celebrating a goal. Anelka then used his Twitter account to link to an online video from a French Jewish leader who said the player shouldn’t be punished.
Roger Cukierman, president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions, said it was a “gesture of rebellion”. Anelka on Wednesday said Cukierman is the “best expert” to the gesture’s meaning.
