UEFA is the organization under the overall leadership of the European Football Championships. All sorts of sanctions are also within its competence - they are imposed on national football associations if players, coaches, functionaries or fans of the country represented by this association turn out to be guilty of something. Unfortunately, the most high-profile achievements of Russia at Euro 2012 relate precisely to the area of UEFA sanctions.
The Russian national team played only three games at the 2012 European Football Championship, so the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) fined the Russian Football Union (RFU) only three times. The reason for each of the penalties was the behavior of our team's fans during the matches. This happened for the first time on the opening day of Euro 2012, at the meeting of the Russian national team with the Czech team. In the official wording, in addition to the "inappropriate behavior" of our fans, it also mentions manifestations of racism towards the black defender of rivals Theodore Gebre Selassie. In monetary terms, this behavior was estimated by the disciplinary committee at 30 thousand euros.
After the next game against the Polish national team, UEFA initiated a new disciplinary case against the Russian Football Union. It considered sanctions for the use of pyrotechnics by fans, throwing firelights on the field, running one of the fans on the football field and using banners, the content of which was considered reprehensible by the organizers. All this in total, the disciplinary unit of UEFA estimated at 120 thousand euros.
The final game with the Greeks cost the RFU less - the fine for the pyrotechnic show and obscene banners was 35 thousand euros this time.
The sanctions against the Russian Football Union for the behavior of fans at Euro 2012 were not limited to fines. In addition to them, a conditional punishment was imposed on our team, which in the event of repeated incidents may lead to the removal of six points from the team in the qualifying tournament of the next cycle of the European Championship.
In the "individual standings", spectators from Russia also played prominent roles - apart from hundreds of arrests for hooliganism at the matches of their national team, the "Russian trace" appeared even at the game Croatia - Spain. The man who threw a lit fire from the upper tier of the stadium and landed in the sector of the Croatian fans also turned out to be our compatriot.
