UEFA hands down punishment to Croatia for fan trouble
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
Croatia learns its punishment from UEFA
The UEFA Disciplinary Committee has made a decision regarding the punishment of the Croatian Football Federation due to the behavior of some fans during the Croatia – Turkey match, which took place on October 12 in Osijek as part of the European qualifiers for EURO 2024.
Following a report from FARE, UEFA initiated disciplinary proceedings against the HNS for discrimination and racism, to which the Croatian Football Federation provided a detailed response.
Taking all parameters into account, the UEFA Disciplinary Committee has decided to impose a fine of 30,000 euros on the Croatian Football Federation, along with the partial closure of a stand at the next home match, with a capacity of at least 6,000 seats, HNS said in a statement.
Furthermore, the conditional penalty from October 2nd (closure of a stand with a capacity of at least 1,000 seats) was activated, imposed for an incident during the match against Latvia in Rijeka, resulting in an additional punishment of closing another stand of at least 5,000 seats, totalling the aforementioned 6,000 seats.
Additionally, the HNS has been fined an additional 1,000 euros for the use of flares, which was reported by the match delegate.
In its response, the Croatian Football Federation reiterated its condemnation of the unacceptable chanting by a small group of fans, while also providing a detailed description of the specific actions taken by the HNS, the Ministry of the Interior, and the judiciary, demonstrating their joint efforts to firmly combat racism and discrimination.
UEFA accepted these arguments as mitigating circumstances, thus the HNS avoided a complete stadium closure, allowing the national team to have the support of the fans at Maksimir Stadium in a potentially crucial match for qualification for EURO 2024 against Armenia.
The Croatian Football Federation will inform the public in the coming days about the ticket sales process for the match against Armenia, which will be held on November 21 in Zagreb.
