Nigerian player, Blessing Eleke was racially abused by the coach of his clubside during a game in the Slovenian league.
Eleke scored a stoppage-time equaliser for Olimpija Ljubljana in their 1-1 game against Zavrc on Sunday, April 10.
After his equaliser, Eleke celebrated wildly much to the displeasure of his own coach Marko Nikolic who felt his wasted valuable time celebrating a
equaliser instead of going to look for the winner.
'Back idiot' Eleke was called by his coach.
Nikolic will however not lose his job after apologising.
"I never intended
to offend the player racially or otherwise and I don't want to be
associated with intolerance, racism or discrimination of any kind," Nikolic told the club's official website (www.nkolimpija.si).
"I spoke to Eleke and he said he understood my reaction because emotional outbursts of this kind can happen.
"I
apologise for my reaction generated solely by the rush to score the
winning goal after getting a 92nd-minute equaliser and I thank the team
for not judging my act as racist."
Olimpija, who have never won a league title in either Slovenia or the former Yugoslavia, are two points ahead of champions Maribor with seven games remaining.
Olimpija president Milan Mandaric, the former Leicester City and Portsmouth owner, said: "The club distances itself from all individual acts which contravene our philosophy and condemns such acts strongly.
"However,
after careful consideration and talks with Nikolic and Eleke, we have
come to the conclusion that the coach did not target the player's race.
"It was an emotional reaction generated by an overwhelming desire to win the match.
"There
is no excuse, but due to the circumstances, we have refrained from
making a decision which would have affected the career of a young and
talented coach who has a bright future."
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