D.C. United’s Taxi Fountas allegedly directed a racial slur toward teammate Nigel Robertha during a match last month.(Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Taxi Fountas is done at D.C. United.
The club and Fountas mutually agreed to terminate his contract Thursday after he allegedly directed a racial slur toward teammate Nigel Robertha during a match last month.
“There is no place for racism, homophobia, misogyny, or discrimination of any kind in our sport and world and D.C. United do not tolerate any acts of this nature,” D.C. United said in a statement Thursday.
In the second half of D.C. United’s match against the New England Revolution on July 21, Fountas and Robertha, who is Black, were seen arguing on the field. It’s unclear what sparked the argument, but it reportedly carried over into the locker room after the game. According to The Athletic’s Pablo Maurer, Robertha allegedly hit Fountas with a foam roller in the locker room when the altercation turned physical. Robertha later alleged to teammates that Fountas had directed a racial slur toward him during the match.
Both players were placed on leave after the incident, though Robertha was reinstated a week later.
Fountas has continuously denied using the slur, and even commissioned a polygraph test in an attempt to clear his name, per the report. According to D.C. United’s Thursday statement, Fountas was placed on administrative after “what [MLS] determined were credible allegations that he used prohibited and discriminatory language against another player.”
This is the second time in as many years that Fountas has been accused of using a racial slur. MLS investigated him last year after he allegedly directed a slur at an Inter Miami player. The league determined the allegation to be “credible,” but couldn’t corroborate it and did not end up punishing Fountas.
The incident last month came just hours after D.C. United announced it has fired its athletic trainer after an internal review determined the trainer made a white supremacy hand gesture in a photo published to social media. The photo was taken during a photoshoot for the MLS All-Star Game.
This season was Fountas’ second in MLS with D.C. United. The 27-year-old Greece native moved to the United States ahead of the 2022 season after spending four seasons in the Bundesliga.
