Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Carlo Tavecchio has been banned from holding a position as a Uefa official for six months following the racism storm earlier this year.
Tavecchio caused uproar when he referred to young African players in Italy as “banana eaters” when outlining his intention to limit the influx of non-EU foreigners into Serie A academies.
The 71-year-old still won the race to succeed Giancarlo Abete as head of the FIGC during the summer but, despite his ensuing apology, but Fifa demanded an investigation into the affair.
Uefa’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body has now confirmed Tavecchio will be ineligible to serve in a position within European football’s governing body for a period of six months as a result of their investigation, while he has also been banned from attending the Uefa congress in March next year.
Uefa has also ordered Tavecchio to hold an event to raise awareness of the issue of racism in Italian football and promote Uefa’s initiative aimed at tackling the problem in Europe.
The sanctions have been introduced with immediate effect.
The news comes just a few days after CSKA Moscow were hit with a three-game stadium ban and a fine of €200,000 as a result of racist behaviour and missle-throwing amongst their supporters in the Champions League clash with Roma. Dnipro and FK Partizan have also been handed sanctions for similar offences.
Uefa introduced tougher measures against racism offences in June 2013 in an effort to reduce the problem in European football.
Source: Goal.com
