Football
9y

Lazio threatened with partial stadium ban for racial chants

Lazio will be forced to play one home game in Serie A with the Curva Nord section of the Stadio Olimpico empty if there are further incidents of racial chanting after a large group of fans were heard racially insulting Genoa players on Monday night.

M'Baye Niang and Edenilson were victims of some widespread racial chants during Genoa's 1-0 win over the Biancocelesti in Rome.

At one stage of the game, the referee stopped proceedings and spoke with Niang, but play recommenced after an announcement was made over the public address system.

The chants did not go unnoticed, however, and in the Lega Serie A's weekly disciplinary report on Tuesday, sanctions were imposed on the Rome-based club. The ban will only be applied, however, in the event of further misbehaviour of their fans in the next 12 months.

"Approximately 50 percent of the 7,700 Lazio supporters situated in the area known as the 'Curva Nord' aimed shouts and chants unequivocally expressing racially motivated discrimination towards the players number 11 [Niang] and 21 [Edenilson] of the opposition team," read the Lega Serie A statement.

"In view of the dimension and the actual perception [of the chants] ... for this reason, Lazio will be obliged to play one game without fans in the area known as the 'Curva Nord.' The sanction will be suspended for the period of one year with the warning that, should during this period a similar violation be committed, the suspension will be revoked and the sanction will be applied in addition to the one ordered for the new violation."

It is not the first time Lazio's fans have been found guilty of racial abuse. They were sanctioned four times in the 2012-13 season and had to stage two Europa League matches behind closed doors that season after their fans misbehaved at European games.

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