UEFA fines Polish club Rakow after fans displayed political banner at game against Maccabi Haifa

NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA fined Polish club Rakow Czestochowa 10,000 euros ($11,600) on Thursday after fans displayed a far-right political banner at a game against Maccabi Haifa.

European soccer’s ruling body announced the verdict over a charge against Rakow of “transmitting a message not fit for a sports event” at the Europa Conference League qualifying game last week, adding that its investigation continues into a separate incident involving Maccabi supporters.

Diplomats from Poland and Israel criticized Maccabi fans last week for displaying a banner that said “Murderers since 1939” in English.

One week earlier, at the first-leg game in Poland, Rakow supporters had shown a banner in Polish alleging Israel was killing people and the world was silent.

Rakow continues to play in the Conference League — hosting Bulgarian side Arda later Thursday in the first leg of the qualifying playoffs round — after eliminating Maccabi 2-1 on aggregate.

Rakow also was fined 30,000 euros ($34,800) by UEFA for fans lighting fireworks at the second-leg game Maccabi hosted in neutral Hungary.

A one-game ban on Rakow selling tickets for an away game in a UEFA competition was suspended for a two-year probationary period.

UEFA did not refer in its disciplinary judgment to Rakow’s formal request last week to exclude Maccabi from European competitions next season for alleged “repeated violations” of its rules.

“We do not agree with the distortion of historical truth,” Rakow said last Friday about the “murderers” banner. “Poles often risked their lives hiding Jews and organizing resistance against Nazi Germany.”

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer