UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Crvena Zvezda, known as Red Star Belgrade, after supporters displayed banners appearing to glorify Ratko Mladic during Thursday’s Europa League match against Viktoria Plzen.
The banners, shown during the second leg of the playoff tie, carried the words: “General, eternal glory and thanks”. Chants of Mladic’s name were also reported during the match, which came on the day of his death.
Mladic, a Bosnian Serb military leader, was legally convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. He is associated with the 1995 genocide commemorated by the Srebrenica Memorial Center.
UEFA has charged the Serbian club on three counts: “racist and/or discriminatory behaviour”, “transmitting a message that is not fit for a sports event” and “improper conduct of the team”. Red Star players received seven yellow cards and one red card during the match.
The club also posted images on its official social media feeds showing supporters holding up the banners. The Srebrenica Memorial Center contacted UEFA after the game and called for Red Star to be permanently disqualified from European competitions.
The centre said the club “consciously uses its official communication channels to spread messages glorifying a man legally convicted of genocide”.
The case now sits before UEFA’s disciplinary bodies, which will decide whether to impose sanctions. UEFA has given no timeline for a decision. The possible penalties, any appeal and any effect on Red Star’s future participation in European competitions remain unknown.
The latest proceedings follow earlier UEFA cases involving Red Star supporters and Mladic. In 2018, thousands of Red Star supporters chanted Mladić’s name during a Champions League qualifier against Sūduva. UEFA sanctioned Red Star Belgrade over those chants.
Separately, in January 2018, UEFA’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body ordered Crvena Zvezda to play the home leg of its Europa League last-32 tie against CSKA Moscow behind closed doors and imposed a €50,000 fine. Following an appeal, UEFA deferred the stadium ban, placed the club under a two-year probationary period and reduced the fine to €30,000.
In an appeal ruling concerning a 2018 sanction, UEFA’s Appeals Body rejected Red Star’s appeal. It found that the chants could not be separated from what Mladić represented. The body also found that praising him meant praising the values attached to a man convicted over ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
The new case places Red Star’s supporters, and the club’s use of its own communication channels, under renewed scrutiny within UEFA’s disciplinary system. The governing body’s eventual decision will determine the response to the banners, chants and images posted by the club.
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