Rome soccer club punished after 300 fans give Hitler salute

Rome’s main soccer club SS Lazio has been ordered to play their next two home European games behind closed doors following continued racist and anti-Semitic behavior by some of its fans. The club was also ordered to pay a fine of US$ 40,000. UEFA, the European football governing body, took that decision on Wednesday. Stadium inspectors had spotted around 300 members of the crowd performing Nazi salutes during Lazio’s 2-0 win over the German side Borussia Mönchengladbach last week.

Earlier this season, the club was fined €150,000 by UEFA following racist chanting in a Europa League game against the English team Tottenham Hotspur. Lazio supporters have been found guilty of racist behavior four times during the current campaign.

Lazio President Claudio Lotito said the sanction was "incredible" and that his club would appeal against the decision. "To suffer a punishment of one or two games behind closed doors, which will cause serious economic damage to the club and prevent fans from participating in an event like this, seems absurd to me," he added.

In November 2012, World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder had urged the suspension of the club from European games if it failed to rein in its hard-core fans. He had called on UEFA had to take "strong measures" against Lazio and declared: "The only way to overcome this ugly phenomenon is to threaten tough consequences for clubs who don’t take their obligation seriously to keep hatemongers and racist thugs out of stadiums. This problem of racist Lazio supporters is not new, and it ought to be taken more seriously by all people concerned. Imposing fines on the clubs whose fans misbehave in such a way is obviously completely ineffective."