Uefa charges Bulgaria and England over behaviour in Euro 2020 qualifier
- BFU charged over fans’ racist chants and Nazi salutes
- FA charged over anthem disruption and stewarding
- Aleksander Ceferin demands ‘war’ on discrimination
Ed Aarons in Sofia, Simon Murphy and Rowena Mason
Tue 15 Oct 2019 17.07 BSTFirst published on Tue 15 Oct 2019 08.58 BST
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Uefa has charged the Bulgarian football union over the racist behaviour of its fans at Monday’s Euro 2020 qualifier against England. The Football Association is also facing sanctions after being charged for the disruption of the Bulgarian national anthem by England supporters and for having an insufficient number of travelling stewards.
On a lengthy Uefa charge sheet the most significant aspect was the reference to chants and Nazi salutes by Bulgaria fans. However both national associations were also charged over the disruption of national anthems and among the other charges was one for the BFU relating to the throwing of objects from the stands.
The move came as Uefa’s president, Aleksander Ceferin, defended its punishments for racism as “among the toughest in sport” and called on for a “war” on discrimination after the game in Sofia was twice halted because of persistent racial abuse from home supporters.
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Ceferin said the help of governments and the whole “football family” was required to tackle racism on the day Downing Street accused Uefa of not dealing adequately with the problem and called for strong action against the BFU, whose president, Borislav Mihaylov, resigned on Tuesday.
With the anti-racism charity Kick It Out leading calls for Uefa to consider excluding teams from major tournaments to tackle discrimination, it remains to be seen whether the governing body will go further than ordering Bulgaria to play their next home game behind closed doors. That was Montenegro’s punishment after England’s players endured similar racial abuse during the qualifier in Podgorica in March. No date has been set for hearing the charges relating to Monday night.
“Believe me, Uefa is committed to doing everything it can to eliminate this disease from football,” Ceferin told the Associated Press. “We cannot afford to be content with this. We must always strive to strengthen our resolve. More broadly, the football family – everyone from administrators to players, coaches and fans – needs to work with governments and NGOs to wage war on the racists and to marginalise their abhorrent views to the fringes of society.”
Ceferin added: “Football associations themselves cannot solve this problem. Governments too need to do more in this area.”
A section of the Vasil Levski Stadium in Sofia was closed on Monday after Uefa imposed sanctions over racist incidents during Bulgaria’s qualifiers against Kosovo and the Czech Republic in June, and the punishment is also due to cover the home game against the Czech Republic next month.
“Uefa’s sanctions are among the toughest in sport for clubs and associations whose supporters are racist at our matches,” Ceferin said. “The minimum sanction is a partial closure of the stadium a move which costs the hosts at least hundreds of thousands in lost revenue and attaches a stigma to their supporters.”
In a further defence of his organisation’s approach, Ceferin said: “Some of the views expressed about Uefa’s approach to fighting racism have been a long way off the mark.”
The Football Association chairman, Greg Clarke, has called for authorities to show “zero tolerance”.
Downing Street said Nigel Adams, the sports minister, was to write to Uefa to demand immediate action. The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “The racism we saw and heard last night was vile and has no place in football or anywhere else. The England players and management showed tremendous dignity. The prime minister commends the players who were targeted for this despicable abuse for their response. Uefa need to face up to facts. This stain on football is not being adequately dealt with.
“Racism and discrimination must be driven out of football once and for all. We support the FA’s calls for an investigation with tough penalties to follow. We are writing to Uefa today to ask for this to be conducted swiftly.”
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In the House of Commons, Rosena Allin-Khan, the shadow sports minister, said:
“Uefa has a duty to act here, the world is watching. A fine is not enough, so I am asking our government to ensure that we are backing up the FA to seek the harshest possible punishment. Stadium bans are a must, forfeiting matches and expulsion from tournaments must not be ruled out.”
The anti-discrimination group Fare has said it will help Uefa build a “legally safe” case to prosecute Bulgaria.
Kick It Out’s chief executive, Roisin Wood, said: “I think there has to be a massively thorough investigation. The fines from Uefa we don’t think are enough. There have to be serious steps now, and that should include looking at expulsion or not letting people enter tournaments, because there has to be a clear message. This is 2019. These are professional players going out to play. You would never expect to get this in your workplace so why should professional players get it in theirs?”
The Bulgaria goalkeeper Plamen Iliev said the home fans had “behaved well” and that Gareth Southgate’s players “overreacted a bit”. He said: “If I am honest, I believe they [the fans] behaved well today. There wasn’t any abuse [as far as I could hear] and I think they [the England players] overreacted a bit. The public was on a good level – I didn’t hear any bad language used towards their or our players.”
Bulgaria’s manager, Krasimir Balakov, has faced criticism for claiming in post-match interviews that he did not hear any racist chanting. One English football reporter, Simon Peach of Press Association, wrote on Twitter: “A few locals tutted when I asked a follow-up question about whether he was surprised the match was halted given he was unaware of any racism.”
Another English journalist at the game, Kaveh Solhekol, reported that Gareth Southgate’s post-match press conference was interrupted by a Bulgarian journalist “convinced racism at the game was not as bad as we witnessed”.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ia-england
