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Bulgaria faces double agony … could be sanctioned for racist chants after 6-0 loss to England

ANTI-discrimination group FARE (Football Against Racism in Europe) will help UEFA build a ‘legally safe’ case to prosecute Bulgaria after the abusive chanting during their match against England on Monday night.

The FARE network had observers inside the Levski Stadium in Sofia who fed their information to UEFA delegates, and this along with television footage will form part of the evidence European football’s governing body uses when making decisions on any sanctions.

Football Association chairman Greg Clarke on Monday night called for football to take a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to racism after the Euro 2020 qualifier, which England won 6-0, was marred by abusive chants directed towards England’s black players and staff throughout the match.

The Fare network’s executive director Piara Powar believes the match will prove a significant watermark and will raise questions about how a similar fixture is approached in future.

“We had observers at the match and they have an official role in the sense that they will have flagged up issues with the delegates and they will also have collected evidence of what we all saw through our TV screens,” he said.

“The fact that it was widespread racism cannot be in doubt and the issue now will be the evidence that UEFA needs to have a legally safe prosecution of the Bulgarians.”

It continued, and there was a further delay close to half-time. It is understood that this did not constitute the second step of the protocol, where the referee takes the players off the pitch temporarily. The third and final step of the protocol is to abandon the fixture.

“There has to be a wider debate about, where we have a match like this, what should happen,” Powar added.

Anti-racism campaign group, Kick It Out, has also called for points deduction to be imposed or for Bulgaria to be expelled from the competition. – MailOnline

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