• Players will not play first minute of matches in top two divisions • Protest in response to alleged abuse of Ahmad Mendes Moreira

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

Players in the top two divisions of Dutch football will stand still for the first minute of matches this weekend as a protest against racism.

An anti-racism message – “Racism? Then we don’t play football’ – will be displayed on scoreboards during the opening minute at Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie games and an extra minute will be added to first-half injury time.

The move comes after the Excelsior forward Ahmad Mendes Moreira was racially abused by a section of Den Bosch supporters last weekend. The game was suspended for half an hour after the referee decided to take the players off the pitch.

The Dutch football association said it will investigate and look into possible sanctions against Den Bosch and their supporters after several of the Netherlands side admitted they had been shocked by the incident.

Liverpool’s Georginio Wijnaldum and Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong pointed to the colour of their skin after Wijnaldum scored the first of his three goals in the Netherlands’ 5-0 Euro 2020 qualifying victory over Estonia on Tuesday.

Play Video 1:32 Wijnaldum on racism in football: 'What can you do as a player? It's a problem in society' – video

A series of racist incidents has tainted European football recently. The Brescia striker Mario Balotelli threatened to walk off the pitch after receiving alleged racist abuse, while the Shakhtar Donetsk forward Taison was shown a red card for reacting to racist jeers from the crowd during a match.