Russia are on the brink of being expelled from UEFA Euro 2016, after a further incident of crowd trouble in their Group B encounter against Slovakia. A flare was lit in stand housing Russian fans, which are against UEFA regulations, and the governing body might come down hard on Russia after serving a warning explicitly forbidding further incidents earlier.
English journalists covering the game were the first to report the sightings of the flare, tweeting that Russia face expulsion for the act:
The flare was lit after substitute D. Glushakov scored a goal that brought the Russians back into the tie, after Vladimir Weiss and Marek Hamsik scored to give Slovakia a 2-0 lead. Russia were unable to ultimately find the equaliser and face their situation worsening, with UEFA regulations prohibiting flares, which is likely to place them on the brink of elimination.
UEFA have yet to confirm the suspension, but there will be renewed scrutiny on the Russians after the trouble caused by their fans in this tournament so far.
Also Read: 5 teams that were disqualified from international tournaments
UEFA had handed ‘suspended’ disqualification to Russia earlier
Russian fans have been one of the most involved in trouble so far, and UEFA had taken them to task, punishing them with a ‘suspended’ disqualification and a €150,000 earlier.
The UEFA statement had noted that “the suspension will be lifted if incidents of a similar nature (crowd disturbances) happen.”
Flares in the crowd are against UEFA regulations, and thus Russia are likely to be thrown out of UEFA Euro 2016. After Russian fans broke through security barriers to battle with English fans at the Stade Velodrome, one would assume that they would have refrained from further crowd trouble.
However, flares are incredibly common in the stadiums of Russia and might have been considered a ‘normal’ gesture of celebration, although they are prohibited from being brought into the stadiums in France.
There is barely any defending argument that Russia can make and thus they are on the brink of expulsion from Euro 2016.
