Euro 2024: Croatia fined and fans arrested for incidents against Italy

Croatia has been fined 105,000 euros ($112,455) by UEFA's Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body over incidents during their Euro 2024 match against Italy, the Croatian Football Association said on Friday, while police told Reuters of several arrests around the game.

The atmosphere surrounding Monday's match in Leipzig stood in stark contrast to the two previous Euro matches in the city. At the stadium, Croatian fans lit several flares and plastic cups were thrown onto the pitch on numerous occasions.

“The Croatian Football Federation was fined 105,000 euros for throwing objects (45,000 euros), lighting flares (30,000 euros) and inappropriate behavior (30,000 euros) by some fans Croatians during the Croatia-Italy match,” said a press release.

UEFA has not yet officially announced the sanctions.

Croatia had already been fined for the lighting and throwing of flares by fans during their match against Albania, and a separate UEFA investigation is underway into allegations of racist or discriminatory behaviour by both sets of supporters during that game.

Leipzig police intervened before, during and after the Croatia-Italy match, making arrests and detaining known troublemakers among Croatian fans until the end of the match.

“On Monday morning, it became known that eight so-called high-risk supporters, to whom the federal police had already refused entry into Germany the day before, were in the area,” a spokesman for the German police told Reuters. Leipzig.

“The police were able to immediately place five people in police custody. During the day, the five people were presented to a judge and their preventive detention was confirmed until Tuesday morning.”

The other three were also taken into custody and the eight were released on Tuesday morning and taken to the border.

According to police, around 10,000 Croats took part in the supporters' march and several high-risk supporters were subject to preventive checks. At the stadium, the police had to intervene due to the repeated use of pyrotechnic devices.

After the match, about 20 Croatian fans physically attacked Italian fans, two of whom had to be hospitalized. Police have taken 11 Croatian and Bosnian suspects into custody, who are being investigated for serious assault and battery.

Leipzig had previously hosted Portugal-Czechia and France-Netherlands, and police said no arrests were made around those games, and the city will host its final match on Tuesday when Austria meet Turkey in the round of 16.