October 11, (THEWILL) – Scottish side Celtic have been fined €15,000 as penalty for allowing supporters to raise an anti-monarchy banner during their UEFA Champions League away game against Shakhtar Donetsk on September 14.
The day following the game in Warsaw, UEFA initiated disciplinary action against Celtic. The banner in question read, “F*CK THE CROWN,” according to the governing body of European football, which announced this on Tuesday. The banner was deemed to contain “message not fit for a sports event” and a “provocative banner”.
One more banner said, “Sorry For Your Loss, Michael Fagan,” an allusion to the notorious 1982 Queen’s bedroom burglar.
The incident occurred the week following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Celtic’s fan base has historically been divided between factions that favour Irish nationalism. In the match, Artem Bondarenko’s own goal gave Celtic the lead in the 10th minute, and they went on to draw the game 1-1 after Shakhtar’s Mykhaylo Mudryk scored an equaliser in the 29th minute.
On Tuesday, October 25, the Scottish Premiership team will host Shakhtar in the second leg. On Tuesday night, however, Celtic host RB Leipzig for their fourth UCL group match.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
