UEFA Bans and Fines Teams for Discriminatory Behavior at Euro 2024.
The UEFA Euro 2024 has concluded over 10 days ago, marking a historic victory for the Spanish national team. However, the tournament also witnessed some negative incidents involving discriminatory behavior, prompting UEFA to take action.
In a recent press release, UEFA’s Control, Ethics, and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) confirmed that seven national federations have been charged for incidents related to a total of 17 matches during the tournament.
Croatia has been fined £41,978 and is banned from selling tickets to their fans for the next UEFA-organized match – an away game against Portugal in the Nations League. This punishment comes as a result of racist and discriminatory behavior from their supporters in all three of their Group B matches.
The Romanian Football Federation has been fined £33,583 and also faces a ticket sale ban for their next UEFA-organized match. This follows similar incidents in their three group stage matches. Romania will start their Nations League campaign with an away match against Kosovo in September.
Albania has been fined £25,183 and is under a suspended ticket sale ban for one UEFA-organized match over the next two years. This sanction follows racist and discriminatory incidents during their group stage matches against Croatia and Spain.
The football federations of Hungary, Slovenia, and Serbia have also faced penalties due to racist and discriminatory behavior by their supporters. Hungary and Slovenia were involved in incidents during two matches, while Serbia faced issues in all three of their Group C matches, including a 0-1 loss to England.
Austria has received a temporary ban and a fine of £16,788 due to discriminatory chants by their fans during their match against Poland.
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin recently spoke to Xinhua about the tournament, stating: “Everything was great. In my opinion, this might be the best Euro ever. The fans enjoyed it and we had no major issues with them. We saw some fantastic football from top teams. The only significant problem was the weather – sometimes good, sometimes not so good. But overall, it was an excellent, excellent tournament.”
