UEFA Suspends Russia For EURO 2016

The Euro 2016 tournament has been marred by issues involving opposing fans throughout a number of cities in France. Both Russian and England fans have taken to hospitals with various injuries from violence in the streets of France before their team's matches. The violence reached a breaking point when Russian fans attacked English fans in stadium during the June 11th match involving the two teams in Marseille, France.

UEFA's disciplinary body got together over the past few days to discuss what actions they should take regarding the fan violence. In a statement this morning they handed down a suspended disqualification to the Russian team for their fans actions:

"Charges relating to crowd disturbances, use of fireworks and racist behavior had been brought against the RFU, and the CEDB decided to impose the following sanctions:

• A fine of €150,000.
• A suspended disqualification of the Russian national team from UEFA EURO 2016 for the crowd disturbances.

"In accordance with Article 20 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations*, this disqualification is suspended until the end of the tournament. Such suspension will be lifted if incidents of a similar nature (crowd disturbances) happen inside the stadium at any of the remaining matches of the Russian team during the tournament. The decisions of the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body is open to appeal. This decision only relates to the incidents which occurred inside the stadium and are therefore under the jurisdiction of the UEFA Disciplinary Bodies."

Should the two teams advance out of their group, there is a chance they could play each other again.