London (AFP) – Rangers have been ordered to close a section of Ibrox for the second consecutive home Europa League tie following a second UEFA charge for sectarian singing already this season.
The Glasgow giants secured their place in the Europa League group stages with a dramatic late 1-0 win over Legia Warsaw on Thursday despite 3,000 seats at Ibrox being closed off for fans.
That was due to the original charge for “racist behaviour”, including sectarian singing, against St Joseph’s of Gibraltar at Ibrox on July 18.
A second charge was brought against Rangers for chants in the away leg to Legia in Warsaw last week, which will again see 3,000 seats are Ibrox closed to supporters.
The club have announced they will not accept tickets for their next away European fixture in an effort to avert another closure.
“The Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body has decided to order a partial closure of the Rangers FC stadium during the next one UEFA competition match in which Rangers FC will play as the host club, for the racist behaviour of its supporters,” UEFA said in a statement on Friday.
“Rangers FC shall inform UEFA of the sector(s) to be closed, which shall at least comprehend 3,000 seats. The Scottish club is ordered to display a banner with the wording “#EqualGame”, with the UEFA logo on it.”
The Scottish club also took the pre-emptive measure to not take up an away allocation for their next Europa League match.
“Those fans responsible for this partial closure of Ibrox Stadium need to understand that they are damaging our club,” Rangers said in a statement on Thursday.
“The same applies to those who indulged in sectarian singing in Warsaw last week and that is why we have taken the decision to make UEFA aware that we will decline tickets for our next away match even though this means that, once again, the many must suffer because of the few.”
Rangers were drawn alongside Porto, Young Boys and Feyenoord in Group G in the Europa League draw on Friday.
