England, Croatia face UEFA charges

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NYON, Switzerland -- The English and Croatian Football Associations have been charged with improper behavior by UEFA following crowd disturbances at their Euro 2008 qualifer in Zagreb earlier this month.

English fans who were trying to get into the Maksimir Stadium clashed with Croatian police in ugly scenes during their side's 2-0 defeat. There was also trouble in the build-up to the match.

The European governing body will hear the case on November 9 and the associations face a fine or being forced to play matches behind closed doors.

William Gaillard, FIFA's Director of Communications told Sky Sports News: "The charge against the Croatian FA is that they mis-handled the entrance procedure and there was crowd misbehavior."

He said the charge against the English FA related to fans' behavior.

The English FA will vigorously contest the charge having previously expressed their unhappiness at the treatment of supporters by the local police and how the entry of fans with official tickets into the stadium was managed.

They accused the Croatian authorities of baton-charging England supporters indiscriminately and criticized stewarding around the ground.

Adrian Bevington, spokesman for the English FA, told Sky Sports News: "We are extremely surprised to have been charged by UEFA. We will contest this and request a personal hearing and seek to call up as many witnesses as we require.

"We have had a vast amount of communication and correspondence from English supporters who were in Zagreb who faced difficult situations during the game."

UEFA request

The Croatian FA said they had received a request from UEFA to provide information on several flares that were lit up and problems that occured at the entrance to the stadium.

"We will soon respond to UEFA's questions," FA's Secretary-General Zorislav Srebric told Reuters.

Croatia is bidding with Hungary to co-host the Euro 2012 Chamnpionship and any crowd trouble involving local fans or stadiums may cast a cloud over the bid.

"It's true that such events do not go in favor of our bid, but I don't believe they will seriously put it under jeopardy," Srebric said.

Croatian police detained more than 200 supporters for disorderly behavior surrounding the match.

A police statement said that 187 Croatian fans and 31 English supporters were held for incidents away from the ground while a further 25 England fans were arrested inside the stadium shortly after the match kicked off following a clash with stewards at one of the gates.

The police report said that England fans assaulted security staff at the entrance to the southern tier, after which 25 of them were detained.

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