Dinamo Zagreb will not be able to count on the support of their fans in their next two European challenges at Maksimir stadium.
Gol.hr reports on April 1, 2019, that the UEFA Disciplinary Commission punished Dinamo due to incidents during the game against Benfica in the round of 16 of the Europa League, UEFA announced on its website.
UEFA counted four violations against Dinamo – racist behavior, the use of pyrotechnics, throwing objects onto the pitch and blocking the staircase in the stands.
UEFA announced the penalty as the following – two home games without spectators, 20,000 euro for racism and 47,000 for other offenses.
UEFA said that the second stadium closure was deferred and that the club was put on two years’ probation. Dinamo will, therefore, begin the next European season at Maksimir behind closed doors, and if the violations are repeated, they can expect another game without spectators.
Croatian media unofficially reported that the Dinamo fan’s racist behavior was the result of a transparent that contained a Celtic cross and the letter O, with the inscription Blue Lions, which has appeared at Maksimir for years.
In the Europa League group stage, Dinamo played against Spartak Trnava with closed North stands thanks to a fine from the match against Anderlecht in Belgium.
Benfica was also investigated because the team entered the pitch late in the second half, though they remained without punishment.
Dinamo confirmed the punishment on their official website and announced that they were given another fine in the match against Viktoria Plzen. Dinamo was thus fined 10,000 euro and are banned from selling tickets to their fans for the first away game in the UEFA competition.
They also announced the heavy penalty from the match against Benfica.
“Concerning the part of the sentence where the stadium is closed to spectators, GNK Dinamo has taken legal steps to appeal and will try to convince UEFA’s disciplinary bodies to mitigate that portion of the sentence,” the statement read.
In addition to Dinamo, three more clubs were fined, including Dinamo Kiev for similar offenses to Zagreb.
For blocking the staircase, pyrotechnics, objects thrown onto the pitch and the entry of fans onto the field, the Ukrainian club will have part of their stands closed for one match. They did not receive a fine, and at the next game, they must display a transparent with the message ‘EqualGame’ and the UEFA logo.
Apart from Zagreb and Kiev, UEFA also fined Malmö and Chelsea.
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