World football governing body FIFA have imposed sanctions on several football associations for incidents of discrimination during recent 2018 FIFA World Cup™ qualifying matches.

Following match reports and additional evidence generated by the Fare Anti-Discrimination Monitoring System, FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings against the football associations of Albania, Kosovo, Croatia, Estonia, Ukraine, Paraguay, Brazil, Chile, Argentina.

Albania was fined a total of CHF 50,000 for two cases, while Croatia was fined CHF 50,000, Kosovo CHF 30,000, Brazil CHF 25,000, Paraguay CHF 20,000, Estonia CHF 20,000, Ukraine CHF 15,000, Chile CHF 15,000 and Argentina CHF 15,000 for individual cases. All of these proceedings relate to incidents involving discriminatory and unsporting conduct by fans, including homophobic chants.

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee took the decisions after analysing all of the specific circumstances of each case, in particular, the match officials’ reports, the position adopted by the association as well as the anti-discrimination match observer’s report and the relevant evidence available. Mitigating circumstances were also taken into account in some cases, including the member associations’ efforts to raise awareness among spectators and fight discrimination.