Fifa open disciplinary hearings over England vs Hungary crowd trouble after arrest in away end

Getty Images
Malik Ouzia @MalikOuzia_13 October 2021

Fifa have opened disciplinary proceedings to investigate crowd disturbances at two of last night’s European World Cup qualifiers, including England’s meeting with Hungary at Wembley.

Police clashed with supporters in the away end as they entered the stand to arrest an individual for over an alleged incident of racist abuse directed as a steward, with television pictures showing officers using batons in attempt to hold off the crowd, before themselves being forced back into a stairwell.

The Metropolitan Police described what happened as “minor disorder”.

Elsewhere in the same qualifying group, the match between Albania and Poland game in Tirana was temporarily suspended. Bottles were thrown on to the pitch after Karol Swiderski scored for Poland in the 77th minute.

Football’s world governing body said in a statement: “Following an analysis of the match reports, FIFA has opened disciplinary proceedings in relation to yesterday’s England v Hungary and Albania v Poland FIFA World Cup qualifier matches.

“Once again, FIFA strongly condemns the incidents at both matches and would like to state that its position remains firm and resolute in rejecting any form of violence as well as any form of discrimination or abuse. FIFA has a very clear zero-tolerance stance against such abhorrent behaviour in football.”

Hungary were ordered to play two matches behind closed doors, one suspended for two years, over the racist behaviour of their fans during the qualifier against England in Budapest last month.

Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham were targeted with monkey chants during the match on September 2, which England won 4-0.

In July, European football’s governing body UEFA imposed a two-match stadium ban on the Hungarian federation following an investigation into the behaviour of their supporters during Euro 2020 matches in Budapest and Munich.

Additional reporting by PA.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in