The story appears on

Page A16

October 14, 2021

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeSportsSoccer

Fan violence at Wembley draws FIFA criticism

FIFA is investigating the clashes at Wembley Stadium in London between police and Hungarian supporters at Tuesday鈥檚 game against England, saying it has 鈥渮ero tolerance against such abhorrent behavior.鈥

World soccer鈥檚 governing body is also looking into incidents in the game between Albania and Poland in Tirana, where bottles were thrown on the pitch after Poland scored.

鈥淔IFA is currently analyzing reports of last night鈥檚 FIFA World Cup qualifier matches in order to determine the most appropriate action,鈥 the governing body said in a statement issued in Zurich, Switzerland.

鈥淔IFA strongly condemns the incidents at England v Hungary and Albania v Poland and would like to state that its position remains firm and resolute in rejecting any form of violence as well as any form of discrimination or abuse.

鈥淔IFA has a very clear zero-tolerance stance against such abhorrent behavior in football,鈥 it added.

Police came under attack from Hungary fans after they moved into the 鈥榓way section鈥 and had to retreat.

The Metropolitan Police said they had taken action after a steward was racially abused by the visiting fans.

鈥淪hortly after the start of tonight鈥檚 match at Wembley, officers entered the stand to arrest a spectator for a racially aggravated public order offense following comments made towards a steward,鈥 the police said on Twitter.

鈥淎s the officers made the arrest, minor disorder broke out involving other spectators. Order was quickly restored and there have been no further incidents at this stage.鈥

The match ended 1-1.

Disorder by Hungary fans 鈥 including racism 鈥 during the home match against England in Budapest last month led to Hungary having to play Saturday鈥檚 game against Albania in an empty stadium.

FIFA put Hungary on probation with the threat of another game being played without fans if there was further disorder at games.

The other Group I game 鈥 between Albania and Poland 鈥 in Tirana was suspended for around 20 minutes.

Karol Swiderski had just scored for Poland in the 77th minute when he was apparently struck by a bottle thrown from the Albania fans. Poland鈥檚 players walked off but returned to the field and held on to win 1-0.


 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend