Politics has nothing to do on the pitch. Nor in the stands. UEFA announced in a press release on Friday that it had imposed a fine of 50,000 euros on the Turkish club Fenerbahçe to punish the slogans chanted by some of its supporters in favor of Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a match against the Ukrainians of Dynamo kyiv, on July 27 in Istanbul.
The European body specifies that these measures were decided in response to the “throwing of objects and the transmission of a provocative message of an offensive nature, namely illicit songs”. UEFA has also imposed a partial closure of the Turkish club’s stadium, with the condemnation of at least 5,000 seats, during its next European home match.
The goal of a Ukrainian sets fire to the powder
The incidents occurred during this match counting for the second qualifying round of the Champions League, won 2-1 by Dynamo kyiv. After a goal scored by the Ukrainian Vitaliy Buyalski (57th), a few hundred Fenerbahçe supporters chanted the name of the Russian head of state, according to videos published and which caused an uproar on social networks.
UEFA immediately opened a disciplinary investigation into the “supposed bad behavior” of Turkish fans. Fenerbahçe initially apologized in a press release, before its president announced three days later that the club would not apologize to Ukraine for these pro-Putin slogans.
The Ukrainian ambassador to Turkey, Vasyl Bodnar, had condemned these chants the day after the match. “It is very sad to hear from Fenerbahçe supporters words that support the murderer and the aggressor who is bombarding our country,” he reacted in Turkish on Twitter.
