UEFA have approved new guidelines for match officials to deal with racist chants which includes stopping the game.
The new rules will allow the referee to first stop a match and issue a warning over the public address system requesting that the racist behaviour cease. If this does not work, the official could suspend the game for 5 to 10 minutes.
“As a third and final step, if the racist behaviour does not cease after the game has restarted, the referee shall as a last resort, definitively abandon the match,” UEFA said in a statement.
The executive body also decided that any consequences, such as forfeit, stadium suspension, fines or others, from the racism outbreak “will be dealt with by the UEFA disciplinary bodies”.
A number of racist incidents have blighted matches in recent years and UEFA have often been criticised for imposing relatively minor fines and sanctions on the culprits.
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