Pyro, violence and Hitler salute
UEFA punishes Cologne and Eintracht after riots
9/24/2022 7:43 am
1. FC Köln and Eintracht Frankfurt have to pay for international misconduct by their fans: UEFA fines both Bundesliga teams, 1. FC Köln is hit harder after violent riots in Nice. Eintracht Frankfurt got off lightly.
The Bundesliga soccer teams Eintracht Frankfurt and 1. FC Köln have been fined by UEFA because of the fan riots at their most recent European Cup away games. Eintracht has to pay a fine totaling 45,000 euros for what happened during the Champions League game on September 13 at Olympique Marseille. In addition, the club was imposed two suspension penalties for a period of one year: a partial closure of at least 1000 places at the next European Cup home game and a fan exclusion at an away game.
The people of Cologne have to dig even deeper into their pockets because of the misconduct of parts of the trailer. The Rhinelanders were fined 100,000 euros, and no tickets may be sold to FC fans in the next two away games in the Conference League. The penalties included firing off pyrotechnics, throwing objects and rioting in the stands at the September 8 game at OGC Nice. UEFA saw these facts as fulfilled at Eintracht, but there was also the fact of the racist behavior that two people had shown towards the home fans before kick-off.
“The verdict obviously not only takes into account the extraordinary conditions surrounding the game and the state of emergency in the city and in the stadium, but also our enormous organizational efforts and in particular the clear attitude and communication of the club to the events,” said Eintracht board member Philipp Reschke the verdict.
“Nothing should be excused”
“We have never experienced such a day in this form and did not think it possible in this way,” Reschke commented on the events after the game, visibly dismayed. “There’s no such thing as real joy. First of all, we have to work it through piece by piece.” He couldn’t and didn’t want to sugarcoat the behavior of his own fans, who had also brought an enormous amount of pyrotechnics into the stadium and fired into the opposing blocks. “Nothing should be excused for what was shot over there,” said Reschke.
Eintracht Frankfurt played on probation for a game in an international club competition after UEFA imposed a spectator exclusion for the storming of the Europa League semi-final against West Ham United. “If I fear punishment, it’s more for an away game. But I can’t rule out that the probation for the home game will be affected by history,” said Reschke after the game. The sigh of relief should be correspondingly large.