UEFA has fined Maccabi Tel Aviv €40,000 and ordered the club to play its next European home match without spectators, ONE reports, after supporters set off pyrotechnics during the Europa League qualifier against Sheriff Tiraspol.
The punishment lands directly on Maccabi's next fixture: the Europa League third qualifying round first leg against CSKA Sofia at Bloomfield Stadium on August 9, kick-off 19:00, which will now be played in an empty stadium.
The disciplinary case was opened after flares and other pyrotechnic devices were ignited by fans during Maccabi's home leg against the Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol. UEFA had already moved to freeze ticket sales for the CSKA Sofia fixture while the process ran its course, with the club stressing at the time that the sales freeze did not necessarily mean the match would be closed to fans.
That caveat no longer applies. With the disciplinary process now concluded, UEFA's ruling means Kenny Miller's side will have to try to build a first-leg advantage in near silence, before travelling to Bulgaria for the return fixture.
Miller, the Scottish head coach who took interim charge of Maccabi during last season's play-offs and led the club to State Cup glory over Hapoel Be'er Sheva, was subsequently handed the job on a permanent basis. The closed-doors order against CSKA Sofia is an early setback in his first full campaign, robbing his team of home advantage at a stadium UEFA competition matches usually pack out.
It is not the first time Maccabi's fans have drawn UEFA's attention this year. The club was previously fined €20,000 and given a suspended one-match ban on away ticket sales over alleged racist or discriminatory chanting by supporters during a Europa League trip to Stuttgart, with that punishment held in abeyance for a probationary period.
CSKA Sofia arrive in Tel Aviv with their own disciplinary baggage. UEFA fined the Bulgarian club separately and imposed a one-match travelling ticket ban after crowd trouble, including an alleged racist salute, object-throwing and fans breaching security barriers, marred their own qualifying tie against Ireland's Derry City.
For Maccabi, the immediate consequence is sporting as much as financial: a European home tie stripped of its crowd just as the club looks to build momentum through the qualifying rounds and toward the group stage.
