Europe’s football governing body said that political statements during games are unacceptable
The European football governing body UEFA has fined the Ukrainian football association after fans displayed an anti-Russian banner at a stadium.
According to the UEFA Match Delegate, during a Euro 2024 qualifying playoff against Iceland in Wroclaw, Poland, Ukrainian fans “displayed a banner with the words ‘Russia is a terrorist state’ written on it.”
In a decision issued in April 2024 but reported by Ukrainian media on Saturday, UEFA’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) fined the national football association €15,000 ($16,200) for “transmitting a provocative message not fit for a sports event.”
The panel noted that Ukraine had been sanctioned for the same offense in the past two years. UEFA wrote in the ruling that political slogans are not allowed during football games “irrespective of the geopolitical situation.”
🇺🇦Ukraine have been fined €15,000 by UEFA for provocative banners unsuitable for a sporting event.
The banners raised at Bosnia away said ‘Russia is a terrorist state’ and ‘UN still useless – Srebrenica 1995, Ukraine now’. pic.twitter.com/hyEOlrSv0k
— Sam Street (@samstreetwrites) September 27, 2024
FIFA and UEFA banned Russia from all competition shortly after the Ukraine conflict broke out in 2022. The governing bodies were later accused of double standards for refusing to expel Israel after UN investigators accused the country of committing genocide in Gaza.
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