Euro 2024: UEFA issues bans to seven countries

By anchor admin UEFA have announced bans and fines for seven countries who participated at Euro 2024 because of discriminatory behaviour by their fans. Some of the matches at the tournament were marred by incidents of racism and offensive chanting. UEFA’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB), in a press statement on Wednesday, confirmed the charges for seven national federations over incidents which relate to a total of 17 games. Firstly, Croatia have been fined £41,978 and banned from selling tickets to their away fans for their next UEFA competition match, due their supporters’ racist and discriminatory behaviour in all three of their Group B fixtures. The Romanian FA have been handed a £33,583 fine and will also be banned from selling tickets to away supporters for their next UEFA match after similar incidents across three of their games. Albania have also been charged with racist and discriminatory behaviour during their group-stage games against Croatia and Spain. They have been fined £25,183 and given them a one-UEFA match ban from selling tickets to their away supporters, suspended for a probationary period of two years. Meanwhile, the Hungarian, Slovenian and Serbian federations have all received the same punishment for their fans’ racist and discriminatory behaviour.

Family, friends of West Ham players attacked in Netherlands

Family and friends of West Ham United players, celebrating their success in Thursday’s Europa Conference League semi-final in the Netherlands, were attacked by AZ Alkmaar supporters at the final whistle. According to Dutch media, AZ supporters broke through a fence and attacked the West Ham contingent seated in a reserved section at the AZ Stadium. A brawl ensued in which West Ham players, including captain Declan Rice, attempted to intervene, the Algemeen Dagblad (ad.nl) added. Police and stewards were quickly on the scene to prevent further confrontation and calm was restored 10 minutes later. There was a similar incident in London last week when AZ supporters, including the family of coach Pascal Jansen, were accosted by West Ham fans. This was after they celebrated the goal scored by the Dutch club in the first half of the first leg. West Ham came back to win last Thursday’s match 2-1 and then scored a last gasp winner in the second leg of the semi-final for a 3-1 aggregate triumph.