UEFA president threatens clubs for 'refusing to attend visiting fans'

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin threatened to punish clubs that prevent supporters of rival teams from attending matches away from home, after Napoli's decision to prevent fans of Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany, from following their team's match at Diego Maradona Stadium scheduled today in the second leg of the final price round of the Champions League.

Under the decision, no Frankfurt fans will attend the match, but the UEFA president considered this a dangerous precedent, saying in remarks carried by German television: "This situation is intolerable, and we urgently need to do something about it because the decision is completely wrong." "We have to say if something like this happens, the clubs will not play in sanctioned cities. We will simply change the laws."

Italy's interior ministry initially banned all fans from Germany from attending because of the violence that accompanied the first leg in Frankfurt, when nine people were arrested. The ban was lifted on Saturday after an appeal from the German club, but Naples banned all Frankfurt residents on Sunday.
Eintracht's attempt to challenge the ban was rejected and the German club decided to give away 2700,<> passes to its supporters allowed by UEFA rules.

Ceferin said it was unacceptable "for the Italian authorities to decide only not to allow German fans" and revealed "the support of UEFA that has joined a lawsuit filed by Eintracht Frankfurt" over the ban. Napoli advanced the first leg 2-<> and have the advantage to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.