England and Russia could be thrown out of Euro 2016 if there is more violence
• Uefa expresses ‘disgust’ and threatens England and Russia with expulsion
• Police say 35 people were wounded in clashes before and after Euro 2016 game
Uefa has warned England and Russia their teams could be disqualified from the Euro 2016 if their fans are involved in further violence.
European football’s governing body expressed its “utter disgust” and opened disciplinary proceedings against Russia for crowd disturbances, racist behaviour by fans and fireworks being set off during the match against England in Marseille on Saturday. A parallel case has not been opened against the English Football Association.
Uefa has also acknowledged issues with the segregation inside the stadium and promised to beef it up for the remainder of the tournament, while sources have admitted that the scheduling of the match in Marseille on a Saturday night was a mistake.
Russian fans broke through lax security inside the stadium at the end of the match to attack England fans, including families, who were fleeing for the exit. Earlier in the day, around 200 Russians had attacked England supporters in the old port area of the city causing serious injuries.
Before that there had been three days of running battles between combative England fans, locals and the police, who regularly employed tear gas. Uefa has consistently maintained that it can only sanction its members for events that take place inside the stadium.
“Uefa expresses its utter disgust for the violent clashes that occurred in the city centre of Marseille, and its serious concern for the incidents at the end of the match inside Stade Vélodrome,” it said in a statement. “This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable and has no place in football.”
The charges against Russia included fireworks being let off inside the stadium and racist behaviour, thought to be the display of a flag with the Celtic cross.
Uefa’s control, ethics and disciplinary body will meet on Tuesday to decide on sanctions against Russia ahead of their next game against Slovakia in Lille the following day.
Uefa also promised to beef up segregation inside stadiums, which appeared to be all but non-existent as a handful of stewards were overwhelmed by Russian fans charging at panicking England supporters at the close of the match.
However, Uefa and Euro 2016 organisers will also face tough questions over the policing and security arrangements, amid increasingly loud demands to know why the match was played in Marseille in the first place.
There is understood to be an acknowledgment within Uefa that sticking slavishly to the idea of slotting matches randomly into pre-selected venues is flawed.
That system led not only to England facing Russia on a Saturday evening in the same city where there was large-scale disorder at the 1998 World Cup but Roy Hodgson’s side then travelling to face Wales in Lens, the smallest city in the competition.
England fans without tickets have been advised by French authorities to go and watch the match in Lille – where Russia play Slovakia the previous day.
Previous incidents of disorder involving the next World Cup hosts are likely to count against Russia, with the game on Saturday the first to be organised by Uefa since the lifting of probationary sanctions that were threatened after violent disorder by its fans in Poland four years ago.
Among the incidents at Euro 2012, stadium security staff in Wrocław, Poland, were assaulted by Russian fans during their team’s opening 4-1 victory over the Czech Republic.
The Russian authorities were fined €30,000 after fans racially insulted Czech Republic defender Theodor Gebre Selassie.
In a separate Euro 2012 incident, Uefa charged and fined Russia for a fan carrying a national flag across the field after a 1-1 draw against Poland. That heavily policed match in Warsaw was played on 12 June, Russia’s national holiday, after fights in the city as rival fans went to the stadium.
Four years ago, Uefa deferred a sanction of ordering Russia to play three home Euro 2016 qualifying in empty stadiums. The stadium ban would have been activated if fan violence during qualifying matches was repeated.
Uefa had initially threatened Russia with a six-point deduction in Euro 2016 qualifying but that was removed when the Russian Football Union appealed. A fine of €120,000 ($150,000) was maintained.
But Vitaly Mutko, the Russian sports minister who led its successful bid to host the 2018 World Cup and sits on Fifa’s executive committee, insisted in the wake of the trouble in Marseille that it had been exaggerated and blamed organisers for poor segregation.
“There was no clash ... That’s being exaggerated, in fact everything is fine here,” Mutko told R-Sport. “When the match ended, there was no barrier between the fans. The British were upset, of course, but it all quickly dissolved. Such matches should be organised properly. It is necessary to separate the fans [at the stadium].”
Guardian