Former AC Milan academy player dies by suicide after suffering racist abuse

‘Everywhere I go, I feel disgusted looks,’ wrote 20-year-old Seid Visin

A 20-year-old Italian footballer who played for the youth academies of AC Milan and Benevento has died by suicide after suffering persistent racist abuse. 

Seid Visin died at his home in Nocera Inferiore, Italian media reported. 

In a heartbreaking letter written by Visin, the young player said the abuse he suffered had destroyed him.

“Everywhere I go, I feel the weight of people’s sceptical, disgusted and scared looks on me. I’m not an immigrant (…) remember everyone loved me,” Visin wrote.

“I had managed to find a job that I had to leave because too many people, especially older people, refused to be served by me, as if I wasn’t already uncomfortable.

“They blamed me because many young Italian (white) people couldn’t find jobs. Something has changed inside me, like I’m ashamed of being black.”

Visin, who was of Ethiopian origins, moved to Italy when he was seven years old. 

AC Milan issued a statement to honour the memory of Visin who during his days at the Rossoneri Academy he shared the dressing room with goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

“Milan mourns the death of this young footballer whose body was found in his apartment by the police after failing to find him,” the club said in a statement.

“There are no adequate words to mourn a 20-year-old boy: our thoughts are going to Seid Visin, to his family and to those who loved him.

“Although his promising football career fell short, Visin continued to practise sports. He had switched to futsal, where he wanted to start a promising career.

“His life was not easy. He came to Italy as an illegal immigrant from Ethiopia, and was taken in by a family from Salerno, where they gave him a home and a future. After trying at Milan and Benevento, he went on to Atletico Vitalica, the Italian Serie D futsal team.”

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