KIEV, Sept. 27 - FIFA’s decision to force Ukraine to play their next home 2014 World Cup qualifying soccer match against Poland without spectators has caused outrage among the country’s supporters.

FIFA ordered Ukraine to play their next World Cup qualifier in an empty stadium after their fans hurled racial abuse during a win over San Marino earlier this month.

The sanction means Ukraine will host Poland on October 11 in an empty stadium for a game that could be crucial in deciding the top two spots in Group H. England currently leads the standings, a point ahead of Ukraine and three ahead of Poland.

One Ukraine fan said: “Where did this issue even come from? I watched that game myself, what fascist slogans or banners are they talking about? I really didn’t understand what they meant by that,” Euronews reported.

FIFA said in a statement on Friday that "several racist and discriminatory incidents were apparently perpetrated by local supporters during the match, in particular by displaying neo-Nazi banners and by making monkey noises and gestures as well as Nazi salutes".

FIFA also said there were "several incidents involving pyrotechnical devices" that violated safety regulations.
Ukraine, which won the match on 6 September 9-0, was also fined 45,000 Swiss francs (£31,000), The Guardian reported.

FIFA’s move may have targeted the use of back-and-red banners by Ukrainian fans during the game. These colors have been used by the Ukrainian Cossacks centuries ago and often used by the nationalist party, Svoboda, at political rallies. FIFA officials may have confused the banners with Nazi flags, some Ukrainian supporters said.

Tetiana Chornovil, an investigative reporter who covered corruption among senior Ukrainian government officials, said the punishment may be part of Russia’s campaign to stop Ukraine’s integration with the European Union.

“The current battle against fascism by FIFA smells bad,” Chornovil wrote on her blog. “It has a smell of Putin.”

Gazprom, Russia’s state natural gas monopoly that is often used by the Kremlin as a political tool, has recently become a key sponsor of FIFA, Chornovil said.

“I especially pain that dirty money is obviously involved,” Chornovil said. “I'm hurt that these sanctions are obviously a consequence of the information war against Ukraine by Putin's Russia.”

Joao Havelange, the Brazilian who ruled FIFA for more than two decades, resigned as honorary president of the world governing body in April after being named as having received bribes.

The long-awaited report by FIFA's ethics committee into the scandal involving collapsed marketing partners ISL has named Havelange and two former executive committee members as receiving bribes. All three have since resigned from FIFA.

The report also called current FIFA president Sepp Blatter's handling of the scandal 'clumsy' but said it did not breach ethics rules.

Chornovil said: “The FIFA’s decision will certainly worsen Ukraine's image in the West, will create another small obstacle on the way to Europe.”

“We must defend ourselves and defend our flag,” Chornovil said. “So I hope for a broad and adequate response from Ukrainian politicians and the public.” (tg/tl/ez)