Sparta Prague fined by UEFA for violence during football match

Prague fans fight during their game against Slovan

Prague, Oct 31 (IANS): Czech football club Sparta Prague have been fined 80,000 euros by Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for the violence at the Bratislava stadium during a match against Slovan Bratislava a week ago.

Sparta beat Slovan 3-0 in the Europa League third round match played in Bratislava Oct 23 and the second leg will be played next week in Prague, reports Xinhua.

Sparta fans broke the barrier between their sector and that of the home team and attacked the Slovan fans after 41 minutes of play.

Sparta claimed that the supporters of Slovan provoked their fans, but UEFA concluded that Sparta's fans are to be blamed for the incident and punished the club for crowd disturbances and throwing of fireworks.

Slovan Bratislava were also fined 50,000 euros by UEFA.

Sparta spokesman Ondrej Kasik said in reaction to the punishment that the fans of the club were provoked by a small group.

He said Sparta will be considering appealing against the UEFA disciplinary commission's verdict and claimed the punishment of the financial sanction and the two-year probationary period were too strict.

Kasik said Sparta plans to sue those who started the violence and have them pay the fine. This small group of people claimed to be Sparta fans, he said.

This has been the highest fine imposed on the Czech club. The club was fined 32,000 euros for racist slogans chanted by its fans in a match against Ajax played in Amsterdam in 2005.