UEFA Dole Out Some Tiny Little Fines

By: Martha | December 14th, 2007

Apparently UEFA’s Disciplinary Committee doesn’t meet very often, because they’re just now addressing incidents that took place during Champions League Matchday 3. Better late than never, I suppose, particularly when you’re finally getting around to fining clubs for the racism of the their supporters. (A little late to do anything to make them stop on the subsequent matchdays, though, isn’t it?)

The three clubs getting their knuckles financially rapped this time around are Spartak Moscow, Anderlecht and Lazio, with the Russian club suffering the heaviest blow for the horrific behavior of their supporters during a November 29th match at Sparta Prague. During the match, Spartak fans engaged in “racist conduct,” tussled with cops, threw things, and were involved in a mini pitch invasion; their actions brought the club a total bill of €30,000 which, honestly, seems like almost nothing give the potential danger that was created by the supporters.

Anderlecht and Lazio, meanwhile, were both hit with fines of a mere €18,000, the former for throwing things on the pitch (and at opposing players) during last week’s UEFA Cup match against Tottenham, and the latter for racist chants during their Champions League match against Werder Bremen. Given that these were repeat offenses for both sets of fans, the negligible amounts of the fines is disappointing in the extreme, albeit not surprising — how will the behavior ever stop if relatively small fines are the only consequence?

That said, UEFA’s toothlessness has got nothing on the Spanish FA, which got into Athletic Bilbao for €600 as punishment for their supporters hitting Iker Casillas with a can during their match against Real Madrid last weekend, and barely missing him with a pocketknife. No, there are no zeros missing from that fine, which I’m sure will immediately end any and all throwing of missiles at La Liga matches.