CSKA must pay price for fans’ chants

After years of paltry fi nes that amounted to little more than a slap on the wrist, European football’s governing body fi nally decided to get tough on racist conduct with new rules that came into force on June 1.

So far this season, UEFA has imposed full stadium bans on three clubs – Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia, Legia Warsaw of Poland, and Honved of Hungary – for racist behaviour by their supporters, while fi ve others have had partial stadium closures imposed. Lazio were originally handed a full stadium closure but that was reduced to a partial one on appeal, while Polish clubs Lech Poznan and Piast Gliwice, APOEL Nicosia of Cyprus and Croatian outfi t HNK Rijeka were also punished.

The sanctions are there for all to see on UEFA’s website, accompanied by their mission statement. It reads: “The fi ght against racism is a high priority for UEFA. The European governing body has a zero tolerance policy towards racism and discrimination on the pitch and in the stands.”

But while the incidents and punishments handed out so far have passed virtually unnoticed in Britain, Wednesday night’s scenes in the Khimki Arena did not. Millions of TV viewers heard and saw the monkey chants and gestures aimed at Manchester City captain Yaya Toure that underlined the deep- rooted racist tendencies in Russia. Ivory Coast international Toure, one of the world’s best midfi elders and a Champions League winner with Barcelona in 2009, rightly brought them to the attention of the referee, then went public to reveal his level of personal disgust immediately after the game.

Despite CSKA’s ludicrous protestations, it is impossible to think they will escape sanction from UEFA.

What is interesting is that by coming down hard on CSKA, UEFA run the risk of upsetting one of their main sponsors, Gazprom, the Russian energy company. They punished Swiss club Basle when Greenpeace unveiled a banner critical of Gazprom at their ground.

Signifi cantly, the Russian government, in the form of the Ministry of Defence, are shareholders in CSKA.

David Farrelly, UEFA communications director, said yesterday: “The executive committee, supported by the UEFA Congress, felt that fi nes were not a deterrent – this is not a fi nancial