Serbia hosts Bulgaria in front of empty stands in Leskovac – BG Football – National Team

UEFA has severely punished the Football Union of Serbia for the fan incidents at the match with Montenegro in Group G of the European qualifiers held on October 17 in Belgrade. Bulgaria is in the same group, and the sanction directly applies to the Bulgarian team for the last match of the campaign.

The European football headquarters sanctioned Serbia for one match without the presence of an audience and a total fine of 89,250 euros. This means that on November 19, Dragan Stojkovic’s team will play against Bulgaria without the presence of an audience, in a match that is a qualification for EURO 2024 and has a decisive character for the “eagles”.

The meeting will be held at the newly built “Dubochitsa” stadium in Leskovac – part of a state plan to build European facilities in several cities in the country. The match will be the second for the new Bulgarian national coach Ilian Iliev, who was presented today by the Bulgarian Football Union. Three days earlier – on November 16, Bulgaria hosted the Hungarian national team at “Vasil Levski” in Sofia.

Detailed by UEFA, 50 thousand euros of the total fine and the closing of the stadium for one match were due to racist chants by Serbian fans. The next part of the fine – €10,000 – is for its failure to control the sale of tickets for the match with Montenegro, as well as for not taking punitive or restrictive action against black market ticket sellers and also its staff in terms of security, he did not check the entrance and exit doors of the stadium.

6,500 euros are due to thrown fireworks, 750 euros – for lighting rockets in the stands, 8,000 euros due to fans blocking approaches to the streets for citizens. And the last 14,000 euros are due to the use of laser devices by the fans, with which the faces of the football players are illuminated.

At the same time, UEFA also fined the Football Union of Montenegro (FSCG) €20,000 in total and banned them from bringing their fans to their first subsequent away game for the national team.

It has also ordered Montenegro to contact its counterparts from the Serbian Football Association to compensate for the damage to the Rajko Mitic Stadium caused by Montenegrin fans. The meeting in question in October ended 3:1 for Serbia.

There are also penalties for the Croatian Football Union after the October 17 match between Croatia and Turkey. The bronze medalists from the last World Championship will have to accept a partial closure of the stadium for the next host, as well as 31 thousand euros due to racism and fireworks./ BTA