9 in an empty stadium in its next World Cup qualifier. Hungary will have to host Albania on Oct. “But this also means that Hungary will serve bans from two different football governing bodies at European and international level at the same time, the principle of escalation has not been applied, it will not deal with the problem of racism inside Hungarian stadiums longer term.” “The FIFA ban on Hungary for racism and the huge fine is welcome and a signal from FIFA of a renewed determination to punish racism,” FARE executive director Piara Powar told The Associated Press. But that two-game ban on spectators will take effect next June during the Nations League, which the anti-racism FARE network sees as a sign of the disjointed way the sport punishes racism. Hungary’s match against England in Budapest would already have been played without spectators had FIFA been asked to implement a UEFA punishment for discriminatory abuse during European Championship matches. The federation claimed it had implemented “all reasonable measures” by asking fans not to be racist and that “punishing a crowd which creates a good atmosphere” is “instead counterproductive.”īut in a sign of a systemic problem with racism from Hungarian fans, the FIFA punishment extends the country’s run of having to host games in empty stadiums because of racism in qualifiers for the 20 World Cups, Euro 2016 and the UEFA Nations League next year. The Hungarian football federation was also fined 200,000 Swiss francs ($217,000), one of the largest financial penalties handed out to a country by the world governing body. 2 - just as players in Budapest faced discriminatory abuse during the European Championship in June.
Monkey chants were aimed at England forward Raheem Sterling and unused substitute Jude Bellingham, who are Black, at Puskas Arena on Sept.
LONDON (AP) - Hungary was ordered by FIFA on Tuesday to play one game without a crowd for the racist abuse of England players, although European football’s leading anti-discrimination group said it could be time to expel the team from World Cup qualifying for repeated discriminatory conduct by its supporters.