Geneva: Russian club CSKA Moscow were on Wednesday hit with a partial stadium ban by UEFA due to racist abuse of Manchester City’s Yaya Toure in a Champions League match.
In a statement, UEFA said that their disciplinary body had ordered the closure of Sector D of CSKA’s Arena Khimki for the club’s next Champions League game against Germany’s Bayern Munich on November 27.
“The fight against racism is a high priority for UEFA. The European governing body has a zero tolerance policy towards racism and discrimination on the pitch and in the stands,” UEFA said.
Manchester City’s captain Toure — who is from Ivory Coast — claimed he was the target of racist chanting during his club’s 2-1 win in Moscow on October 23.
Toure described as “unbelievable and very, very sad” the monkey chants reportedly directed at him by CSKA fans during the game in the Russian capital.
Toure, who speaks some Russian after playing two seasons with Ukraine’s Metalurg Donetsk, was adamant that the chanting in the 18,636-seat stadium was directed specifically at him.
But the Moscow club’s general director Roman Babayev claimed to have heard nothing offensive coming from the terraces.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told AFP on Saturday that it was up to UEFA to prove the charges before handing out punishment, but that any sanctions levelled against the club would be accepted if there was evidence.
Besides opening a disciplinary inquiry, UEFA are also examining why the governing body’s guidelines on dealing with racism were not followed.
UEFA president Michel Platini, who has made the fight against racism in the game a major priority, wants to know why the referee allowed play to continue.
Under UEFA’s anti-racism protocol, in the event of racist chants from fans, the referee should halt the match and issue a call over the public address system for the chants to stop.
If the chanting persists, the referee is meant to suspend the game and take the players off the field before making a second announcement.
If the chanting resumes once play is restarted, the game is supposed to be abandoned.
“All forms of racist behaviour are considered serious offences against the disciplinary regulations and are punished with the most severe sanctions,” UEFA said on Wednesday.
“Following the entry into force of the new disciplinary regulations on 1 June, the fight against racist conduct has been stepped up a level -– resulting in more severe sanctions to deter any such behaviour.”
Toure has said he does not exclude the possibility of black players boycotting the 2018 World Cup in Russia as a result of their treatment at the hands of Russian fans.
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