Bulgaria Hit With Stadium Ban And £65,000 Fine For Fans' Racist Abuse Towards England Players

UEFA has slapped Bulgaria with a £65,000 (€75,000) fine and two matches to be played behind closed doors as punishment for fans' racist abuse towards England players.

The Three Lions thrashed Bulgaria 6-0 in their Euro 2020 qualifier at the Vasil Levski earlier this month, but the match was stopped twice due to racist chants and could have been abandoned.

And UEFA has now handed down a fine of £65,000 and two matches to be held behind closed doors, though one of those has been suspended for two years.

Bulgaria had already been hit with a partial stadium ban for the Euro 2020 qualifier against England, which was due to past issues with racist behaviour from fans.

The country's fans have been heavily criticised before for disgusting racial behaviour that included monkey chants and Nazi salutes.

Bulgaria's latest ban will now mean that their final Euro 2020 qualifier against the Czech Republic will have no fans allowed in the stadium.

England have also been punished for their fans booing the Bulgarian national anthem and have received a fine of £4,314 (€5,000).

Bulgaria have also been hit with the same offence as England and have been fined £8,629 (€10,000) for fans booing the rival team's anthem.

Fans are unhappy with the 'tame' punishment towards Bulgaria and have ridiculed it in comparison to Nicklas Bendtner receiving an £80,000 fine for wearing boxers with Paddy Power's logo in 2012.

Following on from the England clash, Borislav Mihaylov stepped down as president of the Bulgaria Football Union and Krasimir Balakov resigned as Bulgaria manager.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin condemned the behaviour and said it was time for "football family and governments" to "wage war on the racists."

Bulgarian authorities have identified 16 suspects after the match and have since made 12 arrests.

And four people have been handed down with fines and received two-year bans, with others still under investigation.

The Bulgaria Football Union said in a statement: "We sincerely believe that in the future, Bulgarian football fans will prove with their behaviour that they have unjustifiably become the subject of accusations of lack of tolerance and respect for their opponents.

"This will be of benefit to all -- for both football players and fans, as well as for Bulgaria's international sporting prestige."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Football News, Football, Euro 2020, England

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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