UEFA fines Croatia over crowd trouble News

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UEFA fines Croatia over crowd trouble

By Daily Sports on June 21, 2016

UEFA has fined Croatia 100,000 euros (£77,000) after crowd trouble during their 2-2 draw against the Czech Republic at Euro 2016 on Friday.

Referee Mark Clattenburg took the players off in Saint-Etienne when fans in the Croatia end threw flares.

The Croatia Football Federation has also been banned from selling tickets to fans identified as "hooligans".

But with tickets for Tuesday's game against Spain all sold, this sanction is deferred until after the tournament.

If there is further Croatian crowd trouble in that match - the final one in Group D for both sides - then the sanction would kick in immediately.

The fine is the second biggest handed out at the tournament after Russia were fined 150,000 euros last week.

Clattenburg took the players off temporarily in the 86th minute, and during the delay, some Croatia players went over to the fans to ask them to stop causing trouble. A steward appeared to be hurt when a firework he was removing from the pitch went off.

Journalist Andy Mitten, who was at the game, told BBC Radio 5 live at the time: "I was in a section full of Croatia fans. The team was playing really well, everything was good, the people around me were happy but then I noticed a big line of police and soldiers building up in front of the Croatia end.

"It became clear they knew something was going to happen and it did happen. I saw fighting. It was horrible to watch. It went on for two or three minutes before it calmed down."

It is thought that the fans were protesting against Croatia Football Federation vice-president Zdravko Mamic.

Mamic was arrested last July, and subsequently charged, with embezzling money from Dinamo Zagreb when he was the club's chief executive, an accusation he denies.

The controversy surrounding Mamic has led some Croatian fans believe the federation is corrupt.

Torcida Split 1950, a Hajduk Split supporters' group, has posted on Facebook that it intends to disrupt Tuesday's Group D match against Spain in Bordeaux.

•Culled fom bbc.com

Source Daily Sports

Posted June 21, 2016