PRAGUE (AP) — Slavia Prague was handed a forfeit loss in its abandoned game against archrival Sparta Prague as punishment for its fans invading the pitch during stoppage time of the heated derby in the Czech league this past weekend.
The disciplinary ruling issued on Tuesday awards Sparta a 3-0 victory. Slavia was leading 3-2 Saturday when hundreds of its fans stormed the pitch in the seventh minute of added time. Many of the supporters brandished flares and some attacked several Sparta players, including Slovak goalkeeper Jakub Surovčík, defender Jakub Martinec and forward Matyáš Vojta.
A total of 10 minutes of added time had been set to be played, but the match was abandoned without resumption.
Slavia was also ordered to play its next four home games without fans and was fined 10 million koruna ($484,000).
Slavia said it would not appeal. It remains atop the standings, five points ahead of Sparta with three games to go.
Slavia apologized and said the club will cooperate with police who are investigating the incident as hooliganism, which could be punishable by jail terms.
Czech soccer association head David Trunda said the incident was damaging to “Czech football, the clubs and the overwhelming majority of decent fans.”
Trunda has been engaged in talks with the government to improve security at Czech stadiums.
Slavia chief executive Jaroslav Tvrdík said the club will install a facial recognition system at the stadium.
Tvrdík announced Sunday that Slavia would close its North Stand, which hosts die-hard fans, with immediate effect. The stand will be closed until all the perpetrators are identified and brought to justice.
The perpetrators will be banned from Slavia’s stadium for life, the club said.
The two Slavia players who were shown red cards during the derby — league leading scorer Tomáš Chorý and defender David Douděra — were suspended for the rest of the season, Tvrdík said. The club has transfer-listed the pair.
Both players were included Tuesday in the Czech Republic’s preliminary 54-man national team roster for the upcoming World Cup. The Czechs have qualified for the tournament co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico for the first time in 20 years.
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