Czech football team Slavia fined by UEFA for their fans' racism, ordered to close part of their stadium for European Cup, say they will appeal
Czech football team Slavia has been fined EUR 35,000 for the racist behavior of its fans in a December 2024 European League match with Anderlecht and must close sectors 106 and 107 in their stadium during the next home contest in the European Cup. The decision was made by the disciplinary commission of UEFA, which informed the public of the punishment on its website.
Michal Býček, press spokesperson for Slavia, told iDNES.cz the club will appeal the punishment. The Prague team has already finished in the Europa League this season, so the closure of part of the stadium concerns next season, in which they can compete in the Champions League.
Whichever team wins this year’s Czech League will head straight to the Champions League, and Slavia is the front-runner by 10 points. After the match with Anderlecht, the Danish defender Mathias Jörgensen, who is dark-skinned, accused striker Tomáš Chorý of racism.
Slavia rejected the charge the next day and, according to previous reporting, UEFA found no proof of Chorý committing misconduct and did not open a proceedings against him. However, last season Slavia was punished for two other offenses by UEFA and fined more than EUR 80,000 each time.
For their Europa League home match with AS Roma in November 2023, Slavia was fined a total of EUR 91,625, the highest fine the disciplinary commission of UEFA has ever levied against the team, for crowd violence. Several months later, the club was fined EUR 87,000 for their fans’ behavior during the second leg of the Europa League round of 16 in the match with AC Milan (1:3) at the Eden venue in Prague.
