FA issue 11-game ban to ex-Watford player for 'very serious' racist comments he made to his own teammate

Former Watford midfielder Pierre Dwomoh has received an 11-match ban from the Football Association (FA) for racially abusing one of his teammates.

Dwomoh, who was released by the Championship club earlier this month, was found guilty of a "very serious" and "completely unacceptable" offence by an independent commission.

The ban relates to the verbal abuse of an Under-21 player of Indian heritage – referred to as Player A – which occurred on two separate occasions in October and November last year.

The commission stated that Dwomoh – referred to as Player – "did not immediately accept responsibility or show remorse but sought to put pressure on Player A to retract".

The 22-year-old Belgian later pleaded guilty to both charges, apologised for his actions and accepted responsibility.

Dwomoh's 11-match ban has been backdated to April 2026.

The offences took place during warm-ups ahead of Under-21 games against Swansea on October 27, 2025, and Colchester United on November 4, 2025, with both matches played at Watford’s London Colney training ground.

Dwomoh said the exchanges started "as a joke" and that he had no intention of causing offence or using racist language.

In his FA interview, Dwomoh stated that he was not from England and that, in his culture, "we have a lot of different backgrounds. Very different backgrounds. We have Africans, we have Indians, we have Pakistan, we have everything."

He also claimed he did not realise that he would offend Player A with his comments, as his girlfriend was also British Indian and he had joked with her about skin colour.

As per the hearing, ahead of the Swansea match, Dwomoh stated that he had said to Player A, "Are you black like me or are you light-skinned?", to which Player A had said, "I'm brown."

Dwomoh then said, "Brown is not a colour", which Player A laughed at. The player stated that immediately before the comments were made, there was a conversation about skin colour.

He further stated that he was not sure if Player A was laughing "away by pain or laughs with the comment", although he intended it to be "more of a joking question".

The player denied having said, "Asians are yellow", and stated that there were comments which he considered to be racist and that he did not make jokes that went "too far".

During the interview, the player again stated that "brown people don't exist, I think. It's light-skinned or black…"

Before the Colchester United match, according to the hearing, Dwomoh asked Player A, "How is your corner shop going?"

During his FA interview, Dwomoh stated that "he now understood this to be offensive but did not previously have such an understanding, otherwise he would not have made such a comment" towards Player A.

The report added: "The Player denied saying 'Shave his head'. However, he admitted to saying 'Stop playing the victim' in French, more specifically, 'Arrête de jouer à la victime', which he explained means 'Don't make it bigger than it is'."

He repeatedly stated that if Player A took the comments personally, then he should have gone up to the Player and told him directly.

The Player considered that the situation had gotten much bigger than how it had started and was intended, and considered that Player A was profiting off the situation at his expense.

As well as receiving an 11-match ban, Dwomoh was also ordered to pay a fine of £2,500. He will also attend a mandatory face-to-face education programme by August 9, 2026.