Uefa to bring disciplinary proceedings against Croatia

As you no doubt witnessed, the final stages of last night’s Euro 2016 group tie between Croatia and Czech Republic had to be temporarily suspended when Croatian fans bombarded the corner of the pitch with flares and smoke grenades.

Uefa said it would launch an inquiry after the second outbreak of stadium unrest in a week at the showcase tournament.

Croatian fans hurled flares on to the pitch in Saint Etienne in the 86th minute of the 2-2 draw with Czech Republic on Friday, while Turkish fans let off flares after their 3-0 defeat by Spain in Nice.

A steward narrowly avoided injury when a flare exploded as he was picking it up.

UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings into the crowd trouble with a ruling expected on Monday. Croatian captain Darijo Srna did his best to calm the crowd down, but his attempts were largely in vain.

The penalty proved to be significant as the match ended in both gaining a point, which keeps the Czechs’ Euro 2016 hopes alive, who now sits third in Group D.

Croatia have since been charged by UEFA and face the prospect of sanctions, with HNS president Davor Suker and his organisation issuing a plea for help in combating those seemingly determined to interfere with the team’s matches, denounced by head coach Ante Cacic after the game as “sports terrorists”.

“I hope these people are identified and punished”, Cacic said. “These people are scary and I call them hooligans”, Cacic said. “These are not fans, these are sports terrorists”.

UEFA is set to announce details of the charges against the Croatian federation on Saturday.

Croatia has a track record of disruptive fans at the European Championship.

Four years ago, all three Croatia games in Poland were also delayed because of flares and fireworks being thrown on the field.

“Most fans are supporting this team”. During Euro qualifying, Croatia was forced to close off a section of its ground after fans made racist taunts and threw fireworks onto the pitch during a match against Italy in Milan.

It also slammed Croatian authorities for failing for years to tackle the country’s hooligan problem. “This deserves zero tolerance”, Suker said in a statement on the federation’s website.

The fan troubles have even caused a diplomatic incident between Russian Federation and tournament hosts France. Hopefully UEFA can understand this.

Rosický, who has scored 23 goals in 105 global appearances, is going to remain in France and support his team-mates as they look to advance to the round of 16 from Group D.