Ahead of Saturdays Game for Equality against Burnley at Stamford Bridge, Diego Costa has been speaking about the importance of eradicating all forms of discrimination from football, and wider society as a whole.
During the course of the year, the club carry out a wide range of initiatives in order to tackle the issue of equality, with events such as Asian Star, now in its seventh year, all coming under the umbrella of our Building Bridges campaign, which has been in place since 2010.
Speaking to the official Chelsea website, Diego Costa praised the work being done by the club.
Its very important, especially because of the magnitude of the club, said the striker. Chelsea can set an example with regards to equality within the game.
‘I know the club has been doing a lot of work in order to promote equality and take away discrimination. A lot of hard work has been done and its hugely important.
Diego Costa also acknowledged the role himself and his team-mates can play in terms of setting an example to the millions of young children who view them as role models.
We work every day and we know we are a big example to children around the world, he said.
Its important to remember that we are all learning ourselves because we are not born with lots of knowledge. Children look up to us and thats where they learn their traits from, so we are very important in the process.
The Brazilian-born striker, who now represents Spain on the international stage, went on to explain why there is no room for discrimination of any kind, not just in football, but in the wider community.
Its a delicate issue, not just racism, but discrimination as a whole, said the 26-year-old. It doesnt matter about your social status or whether you have good or bad financial conditions.
Its important we put a lot of work into it because the more people speak about these issues, the more chance there is of it getting out into the public domain.
People that suffer from discrimination shouldnt stay quiet, because speaking about it will help them become stronger.
As a community, as people, we must look at discrimination with real care, because people suffer from it unnecessarily and its important we help one another.