Saturday’s 1-1 tie between England and Russia could be the last we see of those two teams in Euro 2016.
The UEFA Executive Committee announced that England and Russia could be disqualified from the tournament following fan violence during the two teams’ game at Stade Vélodrome in France.
New UEFA statement: English & Russian FA's warned they could be disqualified from #Euro2016 if further trouble pic.twitter.com/phokTv23JW
— Oliver Kay (@OliverKayTimes) June 12, 2016
According to the statement released by UEFA, the fans from Russia have been charged with crowd disturbances, racist behavior and setting off fireworks.
The trouble between England and Russia started before the game, when fans were rioting in the streets of Marseille ahead of the game. During the game, the shenanigans continued. A fan from Russia shot a flare gun into the England side of the stadium as play went on.
One Russian fan shoots a flare gun into the England end. How has a flare gun got into the stadium? pic.twitter.com/wkMg1PJqBO
— MikeTheTipster (@miketipster) June 12, 2016
The fights continued after the game ended. As the Telegraph reported, Russia fans broke through barriers and charged into the English section. Outside of the stadium, the two fanbases continued to go at each other and forced police intervention.
Russian fans showed off after their fight with the English fans. Some Russian fans even tweeted pictures of themselves with English flags they had stolen.
Russian supporters with stolen England flags, in Marseille. pic.twitter.com/iWONL2hdC4
— The Away Fans (@theawayfans) June 10, 2016
Besides threatening disqualification, UEFA announced it will beef up security at future games. Russia’s next game is against Slovakia on Wednesday. England takes on Wales on Thursday.
In an event that was already dealing with threats from terrorist groups, it’s important that UEFA gets this issue under control.