Soccer teams from all over the world are playing right now in South Africa in the Confederations Cup—the group of matches leading up to next year’s World Cup in South Africa. But as teams prepare for 2010’s historic World Cup, the first on the African continent, an important legal case is unfolding in a courtroom in Belgium that may affect one ugly aspect of the game. There, a case filed by Oguchi Onyewu, a member of the U.S. national soccer team and until recently a defender on the Belgium club Standard Liege, is set to be decided, and it may have enormous precedential value.

Onyewu—or “Gooch,” as he’s known by U.S. soccer fans—has sued a white player on the opposing team, Jelle Van Damme, for public insult and criminal defamation stemming from racist comments Van Damme allegedly hurled at Onyewu during a match on May 21. Onyewu alleges that Van Damme called him a “monkey” and may have used other racist language. Van Damme denies the accusation and says he’s not a racist. This is one of the very few instances in which a soccer player has resorted to a civil lawsuit against another player over racist abuse.

Racism in international soccer is a continuing and shameful problem that may come to a head this year before the world’s best players and most ardent fans head to Africa for the World Cup. Players of African descent have been subjected to racist taunts by fans who make monkey noises when black players touch the ball or who throw bananas on to the pitch to taunt black players.

Four years ago, Spain’s national team coach, Luis Aragones, was caught on tape urging his players to play aggressively against “that black s***,” referring to the black star French striker Thierry Henry. Although Aragones was initially fined $87,000 by the Union of European Football Associations, he successfully appealed and the fine was overturned. When French-Algerian soccer super star Zinedine Zidane head-butted Italian player Marco Materazzi during the 2006 World Cup final in retaliation for remarks the Italian national player made to Zidane, it was widely assumed that Materazzi’s comments had been racial in nature.

Despite his repeated denials to the contrary, and reports that Materazzi made derogatory comments about Zidane’s mother and sister, many still believe that Materazzi’s remarks were racial in nature. DaMarcus Beasley, another African-American U.S. national team player, has complained of repeated incidents of racist abuse by fans during his time playing for a team in the Scottish Premier League.

What’s most disturbing about ongoing racism in soccer is the seeming inability of FIFA (the Fédération Internationale de Football Association), international soccer’s governing body, to get a handle on the problem. Rather than admit FIFA’s failure to protect black players from this abuse in the workplace, FIFA President Joseph Blatter, an Austrian, has criticized Onyewu for filing suit, arguing that the American player should make his complaints within the organization and allow FIFA to handle the problem. But Onyewu’s suit is plainly a statement of frustration at FIFA’s inadequate handling of this ongoing and deeply corrosive problem. It’s true that on some occasions, because of unruly and racist fan behavior, soccer teams have been compelled to play before empty stadiums and fines have been levied against some violators. FIFA even launched a high-profile campaign against racism. But so far the results have been limited.