FIFA fines German football association over ‘Sieg Heil!’ Nazi fan chants
FIFA has fined the German football association (DFB) after a group of fans sang Nazi chants at a German national team match against Czech Republic.
World football’s governing body fined the DFB 32,000 Swiss francs ($33,000) after finding the organization guilty of “improper conduct” following crowd trouble during Germany’s World Cup qualifier in Prague in September.
In behavior that Germany manager Joachim Low later branded "extremely embarrassing,” a group of German fans bought tickets to the match at Eden Aréna illegally, interrupted a minute’s silence for two deceased Czech officials, set off flares, sang provocative chants, and shouted the Nazi salute, “Sieg Heil!”
The mob also verbally abused forward Timo Werner, who scored the first goal in a 2-1 win for ‘Die Mannschaft’.
Werner plays for RB Leipzig, suggesting the fans may have predominantly been followers of Dynamo Dresden, a rival club with a large far-right following, located less than 200km from Prague.
FIFA also fined the Czech federation 5,000 Swiss francs ($5,150) for crowd disorder.
In early August, UEFA charged Polish club Legia Warsaw after its fans produced a banner of a Nazi holding a gun to a child’s head at a Champions League qualifying match.
READ MORE: UEFA charges Polish club over Nazi banner at Champions League game
Fans of the Polish champions hoisted a ‘tifo’ the length of an entire stand at the Polish Army Stadium with an image of a Nazi-uniformed figure holding a gun to a crying child’s head on a background of a Polish flag bearing the year 1944.
