Red Star Belgrade fined €90,000 over fan chants honouring Ratko Mladic

UEFA has fined Red Star Belgrade €90,000 after supporters paid tribute to convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic during the European clash against Viktoria Plzeň on 27 August. The punishment, announced late on Friday, also bans the Serbian champions from selling tickets to fans for their next continental away trip, a Conference League match in Lugano.

• The fine reaches €90,000 for inappropriate chanting and racist or discriminatory behaviour by visiting fans.
• Red Star supporters chanted Mladic's name, saluted him and displayed a banner in his honour in Plzeň.
• The club cannot sell away tickets to fans for the upcoming match against Swiss side Lugano.
• A second away ticket ban has been suspended for a two-year probationary period.
• Mladic died last week aged 84 in The Hague while serving a life sentence for the Srebrenica massacre.

What Red Star fans did during the match against Viktoria Plzeň

Red Star suffered a heavy 5-1 defeat at Viktoria Plzeň in the return leg of their European tie. Beyond the scoreline, the behaviour of part of the travelling support drew all the attention. Away fans chanted Ratko Mladic's name, saluted him and held up a banner praising the Bosnian Serb commander on the same day his death became known.

UEFA's disciplinary body determined that these actions amounted to inappropriate chanting and racist or discriminatory behaviour, leading to the financial penalty and the restrictions on away ticket sales.

Who Ratko Mladic was and why his memory remains controversial

Ratko Mladic was a Bosnian Serb commander who directed the July 1995 massacre of more than 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica, along with other war crimes during the Balkan conflict. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia sentenced him to life in prison in 2017 for genocide, describing the events as some of the most heinous crimes in human history.

His troops rounded up thousands of unarmed Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, lined them up with their hands tied behind their backs and shot them over several days. Women and girls were systematically raped. To hide the scale of the killings, bodies were later moved from mass graves using bulldozers.

How much Red Star must pay and what sanctions they face

The financial penalty set by UEFA amounts to €90,000, just over £77,000. Alongside the fine, the Serbian club is banned from selling tickets to supporters for the next European away game, which will be played against Swiss club Lugano in the Conference League. A second away ticket ban has been deferred and will remain suspended over a two-year probationary period.

The Serbian champions' disciplinary record in Europe

This is not the first time Red Star has faced UEFA punishment for fan behaviour. The club, European champions in 1991, has a history of disciplinary cases over supporter conduct, including racist slurs targeting Roma people. That record carries weight in European football's decisions and helps explain why the current sanction includes preventive measures for upcoming away matches.

Mladic's death in The Hague and the failed humanitarian release request

Mladic died last week at the age of 84 in the UN prison hospital in The Hague, Netherlands, where he was serving his sentence. A family member confirmed the news to Associated Press. Before his death, his lawyers had requested release on humanitarian grounds, arguing that his medical condition was in advanced and irreversible decline, but the request did not succeed.

Frequently asked questions about the Red Star punishment over Mladic chants