UEFA Open Disciplinary Proceedings for Racist Spartak Moscow Chants

Having already been banned from selling tickets to their supporters for the away match against Sevilla for the actions of their fans against Maribor, Spartak Moscow face further punishment today after UEFA formally charged the Russian club and opened disciplinary proceedings against them for an incident during their U19 match against Liverpool.

During the undercard to last week’s Champions League tie in Moscow, the two clubs’ academies faced off. On the pitch, Spartak won the day 2-1, but the bigger talking point for most was the racist abuse suffered by 18-year-old Dutch-Nigerian winger Bobby Adekanye, who Liverpool poached on a free from Barcelona’s youth academy in 2015.

At last week’s match, a section of home ultras were heard making monkey chants and gestures at Adekanye after the young winger was introduced for the final 30 minutes of the match. At the time, Liverpool officials questioned a UEFA representative who was present as to whether he had heard them, and the official confirmed that he had.

As a result of the incidents, following the match, Liverpool filed a complaint against Spartak, and today UEFA has confirmed that enough evidence was there to formally charge the Russian club as having committed the second major offence of this season’s Champions League campaign—against Maribor, their fans had fired flares at an official.