Calls for Bulgaria to be expelled as Uefa declares ‘war on racists’
● English FA also charged after fans disrupted hosts’ national anthem
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin urged governments to escalate the “war on the racists” to help football authorities eliminate them from stadiums after England players faced abuse in Bulgaria on Monday night.
In a statement yesterday, Ceferin blamed a rise in nationalism across Europe for fuelling racism at matches and said Uefa was committed to imposing strong punishments.
The Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) was charged by Uefa over its fans making Nazi salutes and directing monkey noises at England’s black players, which led to the Euro 2020 qualifier in Sofia being stopped twice.
“Believe me, Uefa is committed to doing everything it can to eliminate this disease from football,” Ceferin said. “We cannot afford to be content with this. We must always strive to strengthen our resolve.
“More broadly, the football family – everyone from administrators to players, coaches and fans – needs to work with governments and NGOS [non-governmental organisations] to wage war on the racists and to marginalise their abhorrent views to the fringes of society.”
But the English FA is also facing punishment from Uefa after a disciplinary case was opened into their fans jeering through the Bulgarian national anthem and bringing an insufficient numbers of stewards.
The BFU was also charged for disrupting the English national anthem. But, in a swift fallout after coming under pressure from Bulgaria’s prime minister, its president Borislav Mihailov said he would resign at a meeting on Friday.
Uefa’s racism monitoring partner, the Fare network, called on Bulgaria to be blocked from qualifying for Euro 2020 as punishment for repeated racism offences.
Ceferin maintains that Uefa’s “sanctions are among the toughest in sport” and that the organisation was willing to get tough. “As a governing body, I know we are not going to win any popularity contests, but some of the views expressed about Uefa’s approach to fighting racism have been a long way off the mark,” Ceferin added.
Monday’s game was played in a partially closed stadium as punishment for racist behaviour by Bulgaria fans during a home qualifier against Kosovo. A 3,000-seat section of vasil lev ski national Stadium was already due to be closed for the Czech Republic’s visit next month because of another racist incident in June when Bulgaria played in Prague.
Bulgaria could be in line for a stronger punishment if Uefa’s disciplinary panel decides this latest incident was a third offence in Euro 2020 qualifying.
While Bulgaria are in last place in qualifying Group A, they could still potentially reach Euro 2020 via the play-offs route linked to the Nations League competition – where they could yet come up against Scotland.
“We believe events in Sofia should result in Bulgaria being kicked out of Euro 2020 by being denied any possible entry to the finals,” said Fare network executive director Piara Powar. “The scale of the problems in evidence, the failure of the Bulgarian FA to take effective preventative measures, and the continuing denial from its leadership shows that this is a football structure that does not deserve to be competing with the elite in Europe.”