Croatia Threatened with Removal from the 2008 European Selection Tournament The football team of Croatia, playing with Russia in one qualification group for the Championship of Europe, could be removed from competitions for racist pranks carried out by fans. The UEFA has warned the team that they could be removed from competition if racist pranks against black players of England occur in today's match in Zagreb. Earlier this year, during a friendly with Italy, Croatian fans hung a swastika. And, in a Euro 2004 match against France, fans also offended black players. "We will not tolerate racism. We have had many problems with this in Eastern Europe, and Croatia is among the most malicious infringers. FIFA has presented new rules which state that, in exceptional cases, it is possible to ban glass and even exclude a team from the competition. Regarding the Croatian team, the resulting punishment could be extremely rigid as it has already had such problems in the past,� said William Gajarda, press representative of the UEFA, on the Sports Channel. Source: Pravda.ru
Croatia Threatened with Removal from the 2008 European Selection Tournament
The UEFA has warned the team that they could be removed from competition if racist pranks against black players of England occur in today's match in Zagreb. Earlier this year, during a friendly with Italy, Croatian fans hung a swastika. And, in a Euro 2004 match against France, fans also offended black players.
"We will not tolerate racism. We have had many problems with this in Eastern Europe, and Croatia is among the most malicious infringers. FIFA has presented new rules which state that, in exceptional cases, it is possible to ban glass and even exclude a team from the competition. Regarding the Croatian team, the resulting punishment could be extremely rigid as it has already had such problems in the past,� said William Gajarda, press representative of the UEFA, on the Sports Channel.
Source: Pravda.ru
