UEFA to provide 1.78 million euros to battle racism
European football's ruling body UEFA on Friday announced it was providing 1.78 million euros to help national associations fight racism.
European football's ruling body UEFA on Friday announced it was providing 1.78 million euros to help national associations fight racism.
UEFA's executive commitee, meeting here with representatives from the European Commission and national governments, also announced aid to member countries who have been victims of one of the wettest autumns in recent history.
"UEFA will be setting up a fund of 2.6 million Swiss francs (1.78 million euros) to help the 52 member countries fight racism in football," UEFA said in a statement.
UEFA president Lennart Johansson added: "There might be doping (issues) and hooliganism but the problem which needs most attention is the increase in racism. And we should be doing everything in our power to stop it in its tracks."
Racism has recently hit the headlines, with stars such as Thierry Henry of Arsenal just one of the victims of racist taunts when the English champions recently played in the Netherlands against Dutch outfit Feyenoord.
UEFA is now set to give each member association up to 50,000 Swiss Francs (34,000 euros) to "cover 50 percent of the budget of anti-racism activities organised by member associations".
Exactly how the money will be put to use is up to each national football association, and Johansson said it all depended on how serious the matter was.
"We can do a lot to fight racism - we could sanction players and the clubs, and teams could be forced to play behind closed doors or in a different stadium."
"But it all depends on the seriousness and the nature of the racial discrimination," added Johansson.
UEFA's executive committee will also give hand-outs to countries affected by the recent wet weather and storms. The money will be used to help restore or repair damaged sports facilities.
Among those benefiting will be Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria and Albania.
UEFA said the funding for both programmes came from fines. "Our policy is for all the fines that we collect to be used entirely on issues which help improve football."