UEFA president calls hooligan fans ‘cancer in football’

Union of European Football Association (UEFA) President Aleksander Čeferin called violent fans a “cancer” in football.

He stated this in Athens after a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and a meeting of members of the Greek government with the participation of the owners of leading Greek football clubs.

“We are all sad and angry because of these terrible things that have happened because of this senseless violence. We are furious that some people are using football matches to commit criminal acts. Imagine a person attacking someone for wearing a different color jersey?

This is the cancer of football. Don’t call them football fans. They are not fans. These are people who use football for their stupid ideas.

I am grateful to the Prime Minister because we agree that we have reached the point where we say one thing: “Enough is enough.” We want it to stop and it will stop. Violence and hooliganism is not a problem for Greece, but for the whole of Europe, Čeferin quotes Sport24.gr.

In Athens in August, a Greek fan was killed during clashes between fans of Dinamo Zagreb and the local club AEK. More than a hundred fans were taken into custody.