Anelka calls on English FA to drop race charge, pointing to backing of French Jewish leader
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}El jugador de West Bromwich Albion, Nicolas Anelka, derecha, gesticula al festejar un gol contra West Ham en la liga Premier el 28 de diciembre de 2013. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File) (The Associated Press)
West Bromwich Albion forward Nicolas Anelka called on England's Football Association to drop his racism charge after a French Jewish leader insisted a goal-celebration gesture was not anti-Semitic.
The FA spent more than three weeks studying the case before deciding the gesture, known in France as a "quenelle" and described as an "inverted Nazi salute," was a racially aggravated breach of its rules.
The Frenchman faces a minimum five-game ban and insisted the FA wrongly interpreted the meaning of the quenelle.