Zenit set to defy UEFA ban
Zenit St Petersburg look like being on a collision course with UEFA over a partial ground closure.
The Russian side have caught the attention of UEFA over the years with the right-wing politics of their supporters.
Of the 23 players pictured in the Zenit squad on the UEFA website there are no black players.
During their Europa League group stage match against Macedonian club FK Vardar the Zenit fans produced a banner saying ‘Ratko Mladic is a hero’ in reference to a Bosnian Serb general who committed war crimes.
That resulted in UEFA ordering a partial closure of the Krestovsky Stadium.
We’ve invited 4000 young footballers to fill the seats vacated by closure of the fan sector at tomorrow’s match #ZENCEL #UEL
????https://t.co/6EAaswHt1n pic.twitter.com/wRqOhFfzim— FC Zenit in English (@fczenit_en) February 21, 2018
Rather than comply with that punishment Zenit want to use the closure of 4,000 seats as a PR exercise.
Johny Vanspauwen from Belgium is the Match Delegate with one of his responsibilities being to report on the sanctions applied.
Seeing 4,000 empty seats at a football match is far more effective message than a PR stunt allowing children to support a football club.