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Sports See other Sports Articles Title: Racism by fans prompts a UEFA warning to Croatian footballers Racism by fans prompts a UEFA warning to Croatian footballers The UEFA warned Croatia on Tuesday (October 10th) that it could face serious sanctions if there are new instances of racist behaviour among its fans. "The sanctions range from a fine to points deduction to exclusion from the competition," UEFA's head of communications, William Gaillard, said ahead of a key Euro 2008 Group E qualifier between Croatia and England in Zagreb on Wednesday. "It's clear that second-time and third-time offenders are not going to be treated at all the same way as a first-time offender." Two months ago, around 200 Croatian fans formed a giant human swastika during their national team's 2-0 victory in a friendly match against Italy in Livorno, with many also giving Nazi salutes. As a result, the world football governing body, FIFA, charged Croatia with bringing the game into disrepute. The incident wasn't the first. Racist chants were heard from supporters of the Croatian team during three of its matches at Euro 2004 in Portugal. The team also was penalised after offensive banners were flown at a game against France. "Sanctions will be heavier in the future," Gaillard warned. While describing his country is a "friendly, peace-loving nation," Croatian national team coach Slaven Bilic said he couldn't rule out the possibility that black players on the English team could become targets of racist abuse. "I can't see how we can stop it," Bilic told the British daily The Guardian on Tuesday. "How can you stop someone if he wants to shout something bad? What can you do, cut out his tongue? You can react after the incident but how do you prevent it from happening? We can't have more security people than fans, so what then?" Security measures were stepped up in Zagreb on Tuesday to prevent potential clashes between the two countries' fans, and police have been instructed to detain any troublemakers. More than 700 guards and security personnel were being deployed at the 40,000-seat Maksimir stadium in Zagreb before the start of the key qualifier at 1700 GMT. Groups of Croat and English fans will be separated well ahead of the entrances and again inside the stadium by a buffer zone of hundreds of empty seats. Wednesday's match is crucial to both countries, as both fight for first place in the seven-nation Group E, including also Andorra, Estonia, Israel, Macedonia and Russia. On Saturday, Croatia won a record tying 7-0 victory over Andorra, while England's match against Macedonia ended in a 0-0 home draw.
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