UEFA fines Finland €30,000 after fans mock Lukashenko and chant against Putin
UEFA has fined Finland €30,000 following a football match against Belarus in Helsinki, where Finnish supporters booed the Belarusian national anthem, chanted an insult about Russian President Vladimir Putin and displayed a banner depicting Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko as a cockroach being attacked by an owl.
According to UEFA's disciplinary decision, the Finnish football association was fined €10,000 for disrupting national anthems and another €20,000 for displaying a message deemed inappropriate for a sporting event.
The match took place at Helsinki's Olympic Stadium on September 29 and ended in a 0-0 draw.
Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported that supporters chanted "Putin khuylo," a Ukrainian phrase roughly meaning "Putin is a dickhead," shortly before kickoff. Fans also booed the Belarusian anthem.
The banner showed Lukashenko as a cockroach under attack by an owl, accompanied by the Finnish words "Sun päiväs koittaa" ("Your day will come").
Supporters also displayed Ukrainian flags and Belarus's historic white-red-white flag, which is now associated with the country's opposition movement.
- Share: