The crowd disturbances during England’s final Euro 2016 qualifier against Lithuania have seen the Football Association hit with a €15,000 fine and the hosts handed double that punishment by UEFA.
Roy Hodgson’s men entered the record books by completing European Championship qualification with a 100 per cent record last Monday, although fighting in the stands somewhat overshadowed the 3-0 win in Vilnius.
England fans became embroiled in nasty scuffles with home supporters, leading UEFA to fine the FA a fine of 15,000 euros and the Lithuanian Football Federation €30,000.
England and Lithuania fans fighting in the stands https://t.co/PeYpSM2TDt
— Paul Hirst (@hirstclass) October 12, 2015
Trouble flared up in the minutes before kick-off as locals appeared to launch into visiting supporters sat in the home end of the LFF Stadium.
Riot police were forced into the stand behind the goal to restore order – an uneasy truce that looked like it would end when Ross Barkley opened the scoring.
The UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body handed out a 15,000 euro fine to the FA for those crowd disturbances – a charge the LFF were also found guilty of.
The hosts were hit by double the FA’s fine, though, as the trouble was compounded by breaches of ticketing issues and for having blocked stairways.
Speaking after the incident last week, an FA spokesman said: “We were naturally concerned to witness scenes of disorder in Lithuania.
“However, we must be clear that these incidents did not happen within the official England Supporters Travel Club area, where supporters who had bought tickets from the FA were housed.
“We would encourage the authorities to identify anybody involved in disorder and deal with them appropriately through the criminal system and with banning orders. We will, of course, fully co-operate with UEFA.”
England will travel to Lithuania again in October 2017 for the final match of their World Cup qualification campaign.
The FA is understood to be considering its position before deciding whether to appeal the UEFA fine.