Some Supporters aren’t helping their Club’s UEFA Cup chances

By: Bob | July 26th, 2007

We are still in the early stages of the 2007-2008 UEFA Cup and already the tournament is shaping up to be a real battle. A battle, that is, to see which club can prevent its own fans from getting it kicked out of the competition.

Following in the footsteps of Legia Warsaw, who were booted out following their supporters’ Intertoto Cup meltdown, the Serbian side Partizan Belgrade have been told that they too can’t take part in the reindeer games because of their fans’ actions against the Bosnian club Zrinjski Mostar.

Violence in the Balkans. That is so 1995. And 1895. And 1395.

“The UEFA Disciplinary Committee decided at Thursday’s meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, to expel Partizan from European competition for a year and fine the club 50,000 Swiss francs,” Partizan said on their Web site.

“The decision was based on the fact that Partizan had been punished in 25 of their 36 European matches in the last five years while UEFA made it clear recently that it would take a tougher stance on violence.”

Good for UEFA. It is important to set a precedent that it violence will no longer be tolerated after the 25th time.