In the aftermath of the Euro 2016 fan violence between supporters of the Russian and English teams, moments ago UEFA announced that it has given Russia a suspended disqualification from the tournament, which means the Russian team will be expelled from the tournament in case of repeated violence. The Russian soccer federation will also be fined €150,000.
#BREAKING Football: Russia given ‘suspended disqualification’ from Euro 2016 over crowd trouble
— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 14, 2016
Oddly enough, as the NYT’s Sam Borden reports, England, whose fans were also involved in the altrecation, is not punished and was not investigated because “UEFA saw English fans as victims in the in-stadium violence.” In other words, this may be the first time in soccer hooliganism history when English fans were on the receiving end. This punishment came from UEFA Disciplinary Comm. UEFA Executive Committee, a different body, can still punish further.
The silver lining for Russian fans: the threat of DQ is related to any more incidents “inside the stadium.” Fighting on streets doesn’t count.
As Borden notes, “the acid test is this: If one flare goes off in the Russian section tomorrow v Slovakia, is Russia bounced?” The answer: most likely yes, as UEFA clearly wants to send a message to not just football holligans, but also to Russia.
More importantly, at this point, these incidents, and even an ejection, have no bearing on Russia hosting the World Cup in 2018 as UEFA isn’t FIFA, which may also explain the bias in favor of UK fans.
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