Football.

[TsarSamuil]

Putin urged Poland to protect foreign fans during Euro 2012.

MOSCOW, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday urged Poland to protect the safety of foreign football fans during the Euro 2012 tournament.

During a telephone conversation with his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk, Putin "expressed his concern over the situation about Russian football fans" following their street clashes with Polish fans during the football championship, Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Putin said that organizers of such international competitions bear the responsibility for ensuring foreign fans' security.

Russian and polish football fans clashed on Tuesday ahead of a 1-1 draw between the two national teams that has finished late night.

Polish television images showed some people hurled stones and firecrackers against thousands of Russians who were marching toward Warsaw's national stadium to celebrate their national holiday.

Police fired tear gas and water cannon against brawling fans and arrested hundreds of people, media reported. The police then mobilized thousands of officers to maintain public order for the match and reinforcement units were employed to ensure the orderly exit from the stadium.

Polish Ambassador to Moscow Wojciech Zajaczkowski said Wednesday the incidents would not affect the political relations between the two nations, adding that no accusations have been issued so far to the 20 Russian fans detained in Warsaw.

[TsarSamuil]

Russian Ultras Head to Warsaw for New Euros Clash.

16:00 15/06/2012
MOSCOW, June 15 (Marc Bennetts, RIA Novosti)

waying slightly and smelling strongly of alcohol, the fan slammed his brand new running shoes onto the counter at a downtown Moscow sports shop. “I’m off to Poland, to the European championships tomorrow,” he told the sales assistant. “To support our guys,” he added, punching his fist into his palm.

Russia’s national football side face Greece on Saturday in Warsaw in their final group match at the Euro 2012 championships, which is being co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine. Anything but defeat will see Russia progress to the last eight, where they could face Germany on the anniversary of the day that Nazi forces rolled into the Soviet Union in 1941.

But for the hundreds of Russian fans expected to fly out for the game, events off the pitch are expected to be just as important as the deciding fixture with Greece. Russia’s Kommersant newspaper quoted a member of a Moscow hooligan group on Friday as saying that a group of “serious guys” were heading to Poland to seek revenge for an attack on their fellow supporters earlier this week.

Polish fans attacked thousands of Russian supporters marching through the center of Warsaw on Tuesday to mark Russia Day, the national holiday that marks the date that Russia withdrew from the Soviet Union. Dozens of people were injured in the fighting, with police firing tear gas and rubber bullets in an attempt to restore order. Two Russian fans have so far been jailed for two and three months over their part in the brawl and another four remain behind bars as they await trial. But the vast majority of those arrested were Poles.

Although it’s likely the marchers would have been attacked in any event – given the history between the two countries and the well-documented Polish hooligan problem – a number of Russian fans were reported to be waving Soviet flags as they made their way through the streets of Warsaw. If true, this was either a dramatic failure to understand the meaning of the holiday or a clear attempt to provoke Poles, whose country was a Soviet satellite state from 1945-89.

Whatever the cause of the violence, scenes of what Russian state-television called “our fans being beaten up in Warsaw” prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to call Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk the day after the clashes to remind him that Euro 2012 organizers “bear full responsibility for the safety of fans from other countries on their territory.”

The Kremlin also sent the head of its human rights council, Mikhail Fedotov, to Warsaw after the violence, to monitor the treatment of Russian fans, and he flew out again on Friday ahead of the match with Greece.

But Tuesday’s violence in Warsaw was not the first incident involving Russian fans so far at Euro 2012, which began last Friday.

Russia’s very first game at Euro 2012, the second match of the tournament, saw the side turn in a fine performance to beat Czech Republic 4-1. But off the pitch, things weren’t quite so admirable as a group of fans allegedly hurled racist insults at Czech black defender Theodor Gebre Selassie and threw flares onto the pitch. Fans also unfurled nationalist banners. UEFA subsequently hit Russia with a suspended six-point penalty for the qualifying stage for the Euro 2016 tournament, to be enforced in the event of a repetition of similar events.

Russian fans were also filmed beating up Polish stewards in a walkway at the 40,000-capacity Municipal Stadium in Wroclaw. The head of Russia's official fan club, Alexander Shprygin, later said the stewards had been “given a kicking” after they tried to detain a fan in what he said was a ‘heavy-handed manner.”

All of this led the head of the Russian football’s governing body, Sergei Fursenko, to issue a startlingly frank warning to fans of the national side travelling to Poland.

“We all need to be very careful,” he said. “When we travel to Europe, we encounter a normal legal environment, something that we are not used to.”

Polish police were reported by national media to be bringing in water cannons and reinforcement for expected clashes between local fans and Russian supporters at the weekend.

But the fan interviewed by Kommersant denied there was a political context to the violence.

“The Poles just want to prove they are the wildest hooligans in Europe,” he said.

[TsarSamuil]

Polish President Slams Hooliganism at Euro 2012.

03:29 15/06/2012
WARSAW, June 15 (RIA Novosti)

Violent behavior of Polish football fans tarnishes the country’s image and spoils the festive atmosphere of the Euro 2012 championship, Poland’s President Bronislaw Komorowski said.

A march by thousands of Russian fans ahead of a Euro-2012 football championship game between Poland and Russia, which ended with a 1-1 draw, came under attack by masked hooligans on Tuesday.

Police detained 184 people, 156 of them Poles, 25 Russians, and three other foreign fans.

“Instead of being excited about the success, which the draw against the Russian team certainly is, people are mostly talking about the scandal [over fan clashes], which tarnishes Poland’s image abroad,” Komorowski said in an interview with TVN24 television on Thursday.

“Violence, brawls, hooliganism in general, spoil the atmosphere of this wonderful event,” the president said.

At the same time, the Polish leader criticized the behavior of Russian fans in Wroclaw following their team’s 4-1 thrashing of the Czech Republic on Friday and urged harsher punishment for football hooligans.

Russia received a six-point suspended points deduction for Euro 2016 qualification while the Russian Football Union was fined 120,000 euro ($151,000) for crowd disturbances and the use of pyrotechnics at Russia's opening win over the Czech Republic.

[TsarSamuil]

Vid,
www.rt.com/news/polish-fans-attack-croatian-875/

Welcome to Poland: Croatian football fans beaten (VIDEO)

RT.com
15 June, 2012, 06:16

Polish fans have once again initiated violence at the Euro 2012 football championship, attacking a group of Croatian national team supporters in the city of Poznan after the latter played Italy to a 1-1 draw.

This is not the first time the Polish fans have shown inhospitable behavior. On Tuesday, 15 people were injured after Polish hooligans attacked thousands of Russian fans marching through the capital in the run-up to Poland’s match with Russia on the same day.

Meanwhile, a Polish court has sentenced two Russian fans to two and three months behind bars respectively for taking part in the Tuesday brawl. Two Polish hooligans were also sentenced to three and five months each in jail on Thursday.

Dozens of civilians and 17 police officers were injured on Tuesday. Some 25 Russians had turned up for medical help, and one of them remains in a hospital. Warsaw police eventually arrested 156 Polish fans, 25 Russians, a Spaniard, a Hungarian and an Algerian.

Poland's Sports Minister Joanna Mucha said she is ashamed of the actions of the local football hooligans who attempted to disrupt the European Championship by attacking rival Russian fans.

“I am outraged. I am ashamed for these people who came just to make trouble. It's certainly not the fans who cheer Poland. These are mere hooligans,” Mucha told Najważniejsze Wiadomości newspaper.

Despite the fact that thousands of police officers were providing security in the streets, they failed to take control of the situation when the Polish hooligans attacked a march by 5,000 Russian football fans dedicated to Russia Day.

[TsarSamuil]

Five Polish fans arrested in Wroclaw

June 17, RT News line
11:47

Police arrested five football fans for behaving aggressively after the Czech Republic eliminated the co-host team 1-0 on Saturday to charge into the Euro 2012 quarterfinals as the Group A winners. “Except for that, everything was peaceful - before and after the match,” a spokesperson for the Wroclaw police said.

[spqr]

Awesome matches last night. Both the czech and the greeks deserved to go to the quarters. Russia go home, Poland go "home".

I hope to a Czech Rep. - Croatia final, with the croats winning of course.

[TsarSamuil]

Disgraceful of Russia to loose to Greece after they started so strong vs Czech Rep...

[spqr]

Greece was better than Russia. Germany - Greece in the quarters will be a huge event, an ironic one if i may say.
Croatia, sadly, is out after that rather weird match with Spain.

Hope the czechs will win it

[TsarSamuil]

Zlatan, what a fitting name ;D
www.svt.se/nyhetsklipp/sport/fotboll/article144477.svt

[TsarSamuil]

Blokhin remains Ukraine coach.

KYIV, June 21 /UKRINFORM/. Oleh Blokhin will remain as head coach of the Ukrainian football team until 2014, President of the Federation of Football of Ukraine (FFU) Hryhoriy Surkis told TSN.

After all, he said, the contract of the coach will be in effect for two years, regardless of who becomes the new chairman of the FFU. Surkis himself leaves this position in autumn, and is not going to take part in the next election.

The FFU chief also shared information about the fees for the players for EURO 2012 matches. First the FFU has promised EUR 500,000 in sponsorship money for winning a group stage match, but after Ukraine's strong-willed victory over Sweden, the FFU changed its mind. "Because it was a strong-willed victory, so the fee will not be EUR 500,000 but EUR 1 million," Surkis promised.

A reminder that the European Championship co-hosts Ukraine were denied an equalizer in last night's decisive 1-0 Group D defeat to England when officials failed to spot Marco Devic's shot had crossed the goal-line.

[spqr]

Guess we'll have a 100% latin final this year.

[TsarSamuil]

I like Spanish football and I can't forgive Italy for tournaments they did for many years where they push to early do 1-0 and then just psycho defend, advance to finals by hardly scoring anything, boring stuff to watch. Whatever happens, I hope Italy doesn't score the first goal because that will just ruin the match.

I'm mostly glad that England n Germany didn't make it, especially England because they have worse history with us and there's the reason that English media behave like babies when their country looses, that is fun to watch even if I would cheer for England.

[TsarSamuil]

Bulgarian, Bosnian PMs Move to Ease 'Football' Tensions.

Novinite.com
Diplomacy | July 25, 2012, Wednesday| 11 views



Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and his Bosnian counterpart Vjekoslav Bevanda have issued a joint statement calling on fans to abstain from violence ahead of the Europa league clash between FK Sarajevo and Levski Sofia.

"We hereby address the fans of both teams. Football is a great game that brings joy to millions of people around the world and it should not lead to violence. We are also true fans and we call upon our friends and the stadium in Sarajevo: do not spoil the game," the statement says.

Clashes between fans of the two teams marred the first game between the two teams in Sofia last Thursday. Some 20 Levski Sofia Ultras attacked twelve to fifteen Sarajevo fans who were singing songs around a shopping centre in Sofia.

During the game, some of the home team ultras displayed an outrageous banner aimed at the Sarajevo fans that read "Ratko Mladic and Arkan ****ed you, now it's our turn". The banner referred to mass murders of Bosnians.

[TsarSamuil]

Zlatan's brother? One of them at least, notice painting on the wall.



Uroš Predić's Kosovo Maiden.

From a documentary about Zlatan's first team.

[TsarSamuil]

Crazy goal..