FA ask for hearing in bid to avoid stadium ban for Wembley shame

THE FA have requested a personal hearing as they fight the looming prospect of a stadium ban for the chaos that marred the Euro 2020 final.

UEFA are investigating the crowd trouble that threatened to ruin the summer showpiece on July 11 and are considering a punishment that would see England play behind closed doors.

European football’s governing body are known to have taken a dim view of the disgraceful scenes and, privately, are not ruling out a stadium ban of at least one game.

The prospect of Gareth Southgate’s side playing at an empty Wembley is a scenario the FA are desperate to avoid.

Sportsmail understands English football’s governing body have asked UEFA for the opportunity to present their own mitigation for the violence at Wembley.

Police imposed unprecedented security measures for the final between England and Italy, but that was not enough to stop thousands of ticketless fans storming the ground.

The families of a number of England players were forced to escape from yobs who infiltrated the stadium, while others were the victims of attempted ticket thefts and were confronted by hordes of people trying to force entry.

An estimated 250,000 fans were on the periphery of the stadium ahead of kick-off, with thousands of revellers participating in anti-social behaviour — including drugtaking and urinating in public.

Any stadium ban would apply to the next round of UEFA international fixtures, which are scheduled to take place in June — the start of the Nations League.

The Hungarian Football Association were recently handed a three-match stadium ban by UEFA — one of which is suspended for two years — for incidents of homophobic chanting during the Euros.

And while the accusations levelled at the FA over the crowd disturbances are not aligned with discriminatory behaviour, UEFA are taking the ugly episode seriously.