He felt the issue prior to the match, but played 70 minutes in central midfield alongside Elliot Anderson before being substituted.
Arsenal defender Ezri Konsa has also been ruled out of the fixture at Wembley as a precautionary measure, with the 28-year-old to return to the Premier League champions for treatment on an injury.
Bournemouth are due to play nine games between 10 October and 8 November.
Alongside their weekend Premier League commitments, they will play on Wednesday or Thursday for four consecutive weeks, facing Sturm Graz, AC Milan and Sparta Prague in the Europa League and Aston Villa in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.
England coach Thomas Tuchel was effusive in his praise for Scott after the Croatia match.
“First start and what a start, what a performance,” said Tuchel. “He is so smooth on the ball, his decision making is at the highest level.
“He plays with so much confidence. He is so active, so confident. The work rate off the ball.
“He is just the complete package. He gave us a lot of mobility and a lot of variety and work rate in the centre of the pitch.”
Scott made his England debut in a 2-0 win over the Czech Republic in Prague on Tuesday, before his full debut four days later.
He joins French forward Eli Junior Kroupi on Bournemouth’s injury list, with the 20-year-old still unavailable after sustaining a foot problem in pre-season.
The Cherries are 17th in the Premier League and are winless after five matches, drawing three times and losing twice.
They return to Premier League action at Chelsea on Saturday (15:00 BST) and play Sunderland, Manchester United, Leeds and Ipswich prior to the November international break.
LAFC, mired in a slump having won just two of its last 13 games in all competition, fired first-year coach Marc Dos Santos on Sunday with six matches left in the MLS regular season.
The firing, announced in a three-paragraph statement, comes less than 24 hours after Saturday’s 1-0 loss to FC Dallas dropped the team to sixth in the Western Conference table.
“Marc has given a great deal to this club over the years, and we are grateful for his commitment, care and contributions to LAFC,” said John Thorrington, the team’s president of soccer operations, in the release. “We wish Marc and his family all the best moving forward.”
LAFC (11-9-8) said it will begin the search for a new manager immediately but didn’t say who would coach the team in its next game on Oct. 10, after the two-week FIFA international break.
Dos Santos, 49, was an assistant on Bob Bradley’s staff in LAFC’s inaugural season in 2018. He left after the season to take over the Vancouver Whitecaps but struggled to a 22-39-20 record in 2 ½ years that were heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the team to play many of its games on the road.
Dos Santos returned to LAFC as an assistant in 2022, this time for Steve Cherundolo, helping the team to a Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup. When Cherundolo stepped down after last season, Dos Santos was given the head coaching job just two weeks later, becoming the third manager in the team‘s history.
His two stints as an assistant at LAFC taught him that the team’s fans are among the most demanding in MLS, something he said he embraced.
“It’s a privilege when you coach a team in Los Angeles,” he said at the time. “Every sport here is pressure. Every team here is win, win.
“It’s a winning city and the culture of the city. So I understand that.”
Dos Santos, who is fluent in four languages, was born in Montreal and split his childhood between Quebec and Portugal. With the exception of Vancouver, he has won everywhere he’s managed, from the Ottawa Fury of the NASL, where he was named the league’s coach of the year in 2015, to the San Francisco Deltas, whom he guided to an NASL title.
LAFC was unbeaten in its first 11 matches in all competition under Dos Santos, outscoring opponents 27-3 and advancing to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, where it lost to Mexico’s Toluca, the eventual winner. But the team has gone 6-9-7 in MLS play since then, including Saturday’s loss when Dos Santos was without six key players — including leading scorer Denis Bouanga and captain Son Heung-min — who were with their national teams.
Afterward, he spoke about his plans for the two-week international break.
“It’s a hard moment right now for us. And we have to face it,” said Dos Santos, who was popular with his players. “It’s been hard for us to get wins. A lot of draws, a lot of close games.
“We need to have everybody together and start working on what this team can be. That’s the big objective during the break.”
Ireland’s players wore black armbands in support of Palestinians, bowed their heads during the Israeli anthem, and refused pre-match handshakes.
Published On 27 Sep 202627 Sep 2026
The Republic of Ireland has won the first of two football matches against Israel at the UEFA Nations League, defeating the Israeli team 3-0 after calls to boycott the match drew international attention.
Ireland’s players wore black armbands at the game in Hungary on Sunday in support of Palestinians killed during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Irish players also bowed their heads during Israel’s national anthem and did not shake the hands of the Israeli team. Ireland’s captain, Dara O’Shea, has also pledged to donate all of his earnings from the match to aid Gaza.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
On Saturday, Football Association of Ireland (FAI) chief executive David Courell said the players would wear black armbands “in recognition of all lives lost in the conflict” as he confirmed that the match would take place after hours of talks and a vote among the team. Israel was informed in advance by the FAI that Ireland’s players would not shake hands, and UEFA accepted the arrangement.
After the FAI confirmed that it would participate in the match, the Republic of Ireland’s first-choice goalkeeper, Gavin Bazunu, became the only player to publicly opt out of the fixture.
Bazunu posted a statement on social media on Saturday, saying he felt “it would be wrong to participate in the upcoming fixtures against Israel”.
He withdrew from both legs of the fixture, including the next match set to take place on October 4 in Backa Topola, Serbia.
Fans protest an upcoming match between the Republic of Ireland and Israel during the international friendly match between the Republic of Ireland and Qatar on May 28, 2026, at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland [File: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images]
The match on Sunday proceeded despite months-long pressure on the FAI to boycott the match due to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Since May, leading Irish footballers have joined a campaign run by Irish Sport for Palestine, urging Ireland to boycott the match against Israel. More than 160 Irish athletes signed an open letter urging the FAI to reconsider its decision to proceed with the games.
The campaign says Israel has breached UEFA and FIFA statutes by allowing teams to play on occupied Palestinian land and should be stripped of its membership at both football bodies.
Israel footballer Sayed Abu Farchi was sent off for goal celebration mimicking shooting a gun in match against Austria.
Published On 25 Sep 202625 Sep 2026
Israel footballer Sayed Abu Farchi was sent off for his goal-scoring celebration when he used the corner flag to simulate a gun after equalizing against Austria in their UEFA Nations League late on Thursday.
The forward’s goal levelled the match 1-1 early in the second half at Raiffeisen Arena in Linz, Austria, his 55th minute header cancelling out Romano Schmid’s first-half penalty.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
The 20-year-old then jogged to the corner, pulled out the corner flag, dropped his right knee to the grass and rested the pole on the back of his left hand before making a firing gesture.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Farchi, who plays his club football in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States, was about to simulate a pool cue shot or a weapon, but the action that followed left no one in doubt.
The referee promptly showed the Colorado Rapids forward a second yellow card, just four minutes after his first, leading to a red card.
Under the International Football Association Board Law 12, players can celebrate a goal as they wish, but their celebration “must not be excessive” and a player “must be cautioned for acting in a provocative, derisory or inflammatory way”.
Austria regained the lead in the 90th minute through Phillipp Mwene, who netted following a cross from Paul Wanner. Sasa Kalajdzic added a third goal in stoppage time with a close-range finish to seal a 3-1 win.
Israel’s participation in the Nations League has prompted fierce backlash from several other competing countries, including the Republic of Ireland, whose football association said its request to avoid future pairings with Israel had been rejected by UEFA.
A banner with the words “Free Palestine” was also displayed by Austrian fans close to the pitch during Thursday’s match.
Ireland face Israel on Sunday in a match to be hosted at a neutral venue – Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary – before hosting the return fixture on October 4.
Al Jazeera has contacted UEFA and Colorado Rapids for a response to Farchi’s celebratory simulation.
Match of the Day pundit Rob Edwards says Liverpool’s Alexander Isak is playing with greater “confidence” after scoring four goals this season – one more than he managed in the whole of last season.
Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer praises the performance of Aston Villa’s Nicolas Jackson, saying Tottenham’s centre-halves “couldn’t keep up” with the 25-year-old striker.
Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy praises Brighton’s “incredible” performance in their 3-0 win over Arsenal, predicting they will cause problems for Premier League teams this season.
BBC Radio 5 Live brings you more Premier League commentaries than anywhere else this season, with 209 live matches.
You can listen to selected commentaries, plus updates from around the grounds, on BBC Sounds, the BBC Sport app and website and via your smart speaker.
BBC Sounds is the place to find every 5 Live Premier League commentary this season, with more ways to listen via the app than ever before.
Sports Extra 2 and Sports Extra 3 are new radio streams available only on BBC Sounds, offering you the chance to discover more coverage from the Premier League and listen to your team live.
The Football Fix collection now brings you every 5 Live Premier League commentary in one place, plus build-up, reaction, and all the BBC’s football podcasts. Find it here and on the BBC Sounds homepage throughout the season.
CINCINNATI — The Dodgers celebrated clinching a postseason berth with a champagne toast. Simple. Restrained. Leaving room for larger celebrations to come.
“The message was, ‘We haven’t come close to playing our best baseball yet,’” manager Dave Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 4-1 win over the Reds on Monday. “And here we are with 12 games left, getting a ticket to the postseason. And that says a lot about this entire organization. And just to finish strong.”
It marked the Dodgers’ 14th straight playoff berth, tying a record set by the Atlanta Braves from 1991 to 2005.
“It’s different than anything I’ve experienced, for sure,” Tarik Skubal said of the understated celebration. “But I think it just speaks to the people in this room and what they expect out of this team. That was cool. A little toast and move on. Forget it happened. We’ve got more to accomplish.”
Most teams don ski goggles to celebrate with champagne and beer showers. The Dodgers will save the messier celebration for clinching the division. Their win over the Reds (70-80) trimmed that magic number to three.
It was fitting that Skubal, the Dodgers’ big trade-deadline acquisition, was on the mound for the clincher. He’s progressively improved in his eight starts with the Dodgers. And on Monday, he breezed through seven shutout innings, allowing just four baserunners (three singles and a walk).
“I think a lot of the struggles have been me versus me,” Skubal said. “Thinking too much out there, not competing the way I know how to compete. Just thinking too much about pitch selection at times and trying to be too fine and not challenging guys.”
He has grown more comfortable with the pitching coaches and his catchers, and it has brought out a better version of him. Skubal seems to be peaking at the right time — just as Roberts hoped for the team as a whole.
Even after clinching the division likely this week, the Dodgers (91-59) will be playing for seeding, aiming for at least a first-round bye.
“It’s always helpful in the sense of giving your guys a break to reset,” Roberts said. “But given all the tax and where our guys are health-wise, to get that week would be huge. So we’ve still got to play well to finish out the season to get to that point.”
The position-player group has been hit the hardest down the stretch.
Designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (right biceps and left knee), center fielder Andy Pages (left hand fracture) and backup catcher Dalton Rushing (sprained right elbow) are on the IL. First baseman Freddie Freeman was out of the lineup Monday managing right knee soreness, and second baseman Miguel Rojas was playing through shoulder soreness after aggravating a longstanding partial tear in a labrum.
“You’ve got to give credit to the front office,” said Teoscar Hernández, who hit a two-run homer Monday. “They put together a really good team, [a] deep team that has a little bit of too much of everything. A lot of pitchers, a lot of position players here, players that can play all over the field. We’re one of the oldest teams. We know [injuries] are going to happen throughout the season. So, we’ve just gotta be ready, and the team has to be ready, and everybody else.”
Here are more specific injury updates provided by Roberts:
— Ohtani is set to hit off a tee Tuesday. Up until this point, he’s been working out, lifting and undergoing treatment.
— Pages hit softer balls Monday and will advance to hitting baseballs in the cage Tuesday. “He’s trending really well,” Roberts said.
— Freeman is expected to return to the lineup Tuesday, but Roberts will continue to keep a close eye on him. “Where we’re at in the season, an IL is not an option in the sense of — I personally don’t think we have a better option,” Roberts said. “So I don’t think it needs to be 10 days. But could it be more than one? That’s a fair question. And I’ve got to talk to the training staff, Freddie, and ultimately make that decision. But I don’t think IL would make sense at all.”
— Rojas did not receive a cortisone injection as he had initially predicted when he hurt his shoulder Sunday. But he said it’s still a possibility as he manages pain in his shoulder. The Reds have left-handed starters scheduled for two of the four games, making Rojas’ right-handed bat valuable.
“Right now it’s front of mind, it’s not great,” Roberts said of the Dodgers’ injury situation. “But I will say this: Once you get to October, athletes have a magical way of feeling better. It happens every single year, where there’s that extra adrenaline that athletes get when you get to the postseason.”
World champion Wu Yize fell in the third round of the English Open as Liam Davies scored an eye-catching 4-1 victory in Brentwood.
Welsh prospect Davies, 20, opened up a 3-0 lead on his way to the first ranking event quarter-final of his career, helped by a break of 105 in the second frame, then completed his victory as China’s Wu struggled to find his dynamic best form.
Tantalisingly, Davies will face compatriot Mark Williams, the three-time world champion, in the last eight on Friday evening.
Williams, still a major force on the baize at the age of 51, had breaks of 76, 103 and 63 in a late-night 4-1 victory over England’s Barry Hawkins.
Mark Selby, who was runner-up at last week’s British Open and won the China Open in August, had his hopes of reaching another final ended by a 4-3 defeat against fellow former world champion Kyren Wilson.
Selby led 2-0 in the all-English tussle after an early break of 112 but then lost the next three frames. He dragged himself level, but Wilson trebled in the yellow to effectively make sure of victory in the decider.
England’s Judd Trump, newly deposed as world number one, edged a tense decider against Scot Anthony McGill to take a 4-3 victory.
Trump will face a quarter-final against Shaun Murphy who was taken the distance after midnight by Pang Junxu before racing through the deciding frame with a 103 break.
Ali Carter had a highest break of 75 as he completed a 4-2 win over Gong Chenzhi, Zhou Yuelong made a 141 in his 4-2 victory over Chinese compatriot Yuan Sijun, and Ding Junhui beat Joe O’Connor 4-1.
Sure, the U.S. tennis star advanced to his second U.S. Open semifinal in epic fashion, knocking off defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in a five-set marathon that did not end until 3:33 a.m. ET Wednesday.
It was during his on-court interview afterward, however, that Shelton committed a bit of a faux pas while discussing the match that ended later than any other in tournament history.
“I’m just hoping that my best friend and my sister over there don’t have to be at work at 6 a.m. in three hours,” Shelton said following the 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory. “It’d be huge from their employers to let them have the day off today.”
Shelton certainly didn’t have to give a shout out to two of his loved ones for hanging in there for the entire 4 hours 28 minutes … but since he did, there’s one other person Shelton probably should have mentioned as well: soccer star Trinity Rodman, who also was sitting courtside throughout the match. TV cameras showed her laughing and apparently saying, “What about me?”
Shelton and Rodman have been dating for more than a year, after going Instagram official in May 2025. They are seen in the stands at each other’s sporting events when their schedules allow.
For the record, Rodman apparently did have to work hours later. The U.S. national team and Washington Spirit player posted a video later Wednesday morning on TikTok that showed her inside a gym with the caption, “Yes, I’m at training now.”
She doesn’t seem to hold a grudge over her boyfriend’s omission, though. Rodman posted a video on her Instagram Story of the match’s aftermath, with the caption, “The moment belongs to Shelton!”
And Shelton actually did include Rodman in that moment, with the two of them making eye contact and flashing his signature “dialed-in” hand motion to each other as he celebrated.
Rodman’s schedule with the Spirit hasn’t allowed her to attend all of Shelton’s matches at Flushing Meadows, but she has been to at least three. For his Round 2 victory against Hubert Hurkacz, Rodman wore a black crop top that read, “I ❤️ my boyfriend.”
For the quarterfinal, Rodman carried a Shelton figurine, possibly as a good luck charm.
Shelton will face fellow U.S. player Frances Tiafoe in Friday’s semifinals.
Greek teenage star Konstantinos Karetsas faced ‘circulatory problems’ and was stretchered off against Villarreal.
Published On 9 Sep 20269 Sep 2026
Borussia Dortmund teenage star Konstantinos Karetsas was being treated at the hospital after slumping to the turf 25 minutes into his Champions League debut, the German club said.
“Konstantinos Karetsas had to leave the field due to circulatory problems,” Dortmund said in a statement late on Tuesday. “Kosta is doing well under the circumstances and is on his way to the hospital for further tests.”
Facing Villarreal, the 18-year-old Greek prospect passed the ball to a teammate, then signalled his distress to the referee before sitting on the grass.
Karetsas was treated lying down and then taken away on a stretcher. The score was 0-0 at the time in what became a 3-2 win for Dortmund.
“I hope and I think that everything is OK, and I hope that he’s back and fit with us soon,” Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel told a broadcaster.
Konstantinos Karetsas receives medical attention before being put on a stretcher [Leon Kuegeler/Reuters]
Karetsas and his Greek teammate Giannis Konstantelias were marquee signings for Dortmund in the off-season. Former Belgium youth international Karetsas joined for $34.9m from Genk and Konstantelias for $30.2m from PAOK.
Karetsas was reportedly a target for many clubs after impressing at Genk last season. He set up 11 goals in 28 Jupiler Pro League appearances. He signed a five-year contract through June 2031.
“With his creativity and game intelligence, Kos will enrich our team,” Dortmund sporting director Ole Book said. “He is technically very skilled and has the ability to find quick solutions in tight spaces, especially in the final third.”
Karetsas played for Belgium’s youth teams before opting to represent his parents’ country and making his debut for Greece in March 2025. He has scored three goals in 10 international appearances.
Meanwhile, 23-year-old Konstantelias’ season was likely ended last month by an ACL injury on his Bundesliga debut.
“Pravac Potocari” or “Direction Potocari” were the words used by former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic as he entered Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.
Mladic was referring to the nearby village of Potocari, which hosted a United Nations peacekeeping base and was the initial gathering point for Bosniak refugees during the war in Bosnia. Under Mladic’s command, Bosnian Serb forces committed a genocide against thousands of Bosniak men and boys in the days that followed.
“Pravac Potocari” was also the slogan the fans of the Serbian football team Red Star chose on Sunday to honour the so-called “butcher of Bosnia”, who died in The Hague, the Netherlands, on August 27, while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. During a match against city rivals Partizan in the Serbian capital, the supporters also unveiled a giant image of Mladic and observed a minute of silence in his memory.
The tribute came days after European football governing body UEFA fined Red Star a total of 98,250 euros, or $114,100, over a banner -“General, eternal glory and thanks” – dedicated to Mladic that was unveiled by the club’s ultras during a Europa League playoff away leg in Plzen, in the Czech Republic.
The penalty included a ban on Red Star supporters travelling to the club’s next two European away fixtures, in Lugano, Switzerland on October 15 and Ghent, Belgium on November 26.
It was not the first time Red Star supporters had expressed support for Mladic during a European match. Nine years earlier, fans displayed similar messages during a Europa League tie against Belarusian club BATE Borisov.
‘Most shameful event this stadium has seen’
For Slobodan Georgiev, a news director at TV Nova S in Serbia, the minute of silence at Belgrade’s Marakana stadium marked a qualitative shift rather than a repeat performance.
“Glorifying a convicted war criminal is nothing new, but officially paying tribute to him with a minute of silence is new – and it’s the most shameful event this stadium has witnessed,” Georgiev said. “Displaying the shameful slogan ‘Pravac Potocari’ cannot be justified, though in the coming days we’ll surely see attempts to do so.”
He placed the display in a much longer lineage. “Since the breakup of Yugoslavia, the terraces have served as a recruitment centre for paramilitary formations, and in various forms that haven’t changed to this day,” he said. “The worst messages have always travelled through the terraces – everything the authorities didn’t dare say themselves, they most often said through the stands, as they did … at the Red Star–Partizan match.”
But what made Sunday’s so-called “eternal derby” notable was not only the Red Star display.
Partizan’s own hardcore supporters, the Grobari, had raised their own banner in tribute to Mladic – reading “General, thank you” – just a week earlier, on August 31, during a Serbian Super Liga match against OFK Beograd, with Mladic’s flag flying over the north stand for the full 90 minutes.
For Georgiev, the fan groups are not an autonomous phenomenon, but an instrument. “The state, through its secret services and through criminal groups, has always managed these groups and used them for the worst tasks: Mobilisation in war, crime in peacetime, and delivering the ugliest political messages,” he said. “A stand that boasts it was founded by Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan, and that sings in praise of Ratko Mladic without facing any legal consequence for it, speaks for itself.”
Georgiev was referring to Arkan, the Serbian paramilitary leader whose unit committed atrocities during the Yugoslav wars and who, before his assassination in Belgrade in 2000, was closely associated with Red Star’s hardcore fan base, the Delije – a group he is widely reported to have helped organise.
‘Clearest indication issue deeply ingrained’
Sasa Djordevic, a senior analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), sees the same continuity Georgiev described, tracing it back further still. “The connection between football hooliganism, nationalism and politics in Serbia dates to the late 1980s and became particularly evident during and after the breakup of former Yugoslavia,” he said. “Certain elements of the hooligan scene have since been exploited as a political ‘rent-a-mob,’ and some group leaders have reaped benefits from political protection or business opportunities.”
What worries him most now is not the display itself, but how unremarkable it risks becoming. “Incidents like those that occurred at Marakana last night risk being perceived as routine rather than serious manifestations of hate speech,” he said. “Public debate has nearly vanished, and society seems increasingly desensitised to violence and hate speech in stadiums. When such behaviour starts to feel normal, it may be the clearest indication that the issue has become deeply ingrained.”
Ivana Jeremic, an editor at the Balkan Insight publication, pointed to why sports venues serve that function so well. “Stadiums have long ceased to be merely sporting arenas – they are fertile ground for sending messages that can’t be spoken publicly, or that come wrapped in a softer form,” she said. “Matches involving Partizan, Red Star, and the national team stand out in particular for this.”
The political ties, she argued, are an open secret. “The political connections between the fans leading the stands and those in power are something of a public secret, with a number of documented examples of direct influence. What we hear or see on the terraces could hardly happen without some form of ‘permission’ from the authorities,” Jeremic said. “When it comes to Mladic, we’ve seen a rise in such messages in recent days. Red Star’s fans, as well as the club itself, are currently perceived as a mouthpiece of the government.”
On Thursday, a Serbian government plane carried Mladic’s body from The Hague to Belgrade for burial, where it was received with military honours.
Red Star fans wave a flag showing Ratko Mladic during the match against Partizan [Darko Vojinovic/AP Photo]
From the terraces to paramilitary structures
Djordevic traced the mechanism behind this convergence to the same period cited by Georgiev. “During the breakup of Yugoslavia, football stadiums became spaces for nationalist mobilisation, and for some young men the step from organised football violence to paramilitary structures was short,” he said. “Hooligan groups since then cultivate loyalty, hierarchy, readiness to use violence and rapid mobilisation to achieve their extremist views that go beyond strictly football supporter beliefs.”
That structure is not unique to Serbia, but it is particularly acute there. GI-TOC’s regional research examined 122 fan groups, identifying 78 as ultras – and found 21 groups combining violent hooliganism with links to extreme politics. “The most problematic situation was in Serbia, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Djordevic said, while cautioning against overreach. “The term ‘terrorism’ should be used cautiously: The evidence points to particular groups or individuals linked to violent extremism and paramilitary structures, not supporter groups as a whole.”
UEFA’s disciplinary decision detailed the layers of the punishment: A 50,000-euro ($58,000) fine for transmitting a message unfit for a sporting event, an 8,250-euro ($9,580) fine for team misconduct, and the activation of a suspended sanction originally imposed in April 2025 over racist conduct by Red Star fans – a suspended stadium ban now converted into a one-match travelling ban, conditionally extended for a further two years.
But fines on paper, Djordevic said, rarely reach the people who are actually liable. “The problem is that fines imposed on clubs do not necessarily affect those responsible for the incidents,” he said. “If hooligans remain untouched, financial penalties can become simply another cost of doing business rather than a tool for changing behaviour. That does not mean clubs do not care. They respond when sanctions are certain, substantial, and consistently enforced, as seen more clearly in basketball games than in football.”
The gap, he argued, is not a lack of rules. “Serbia already has a solid legal framework,” he said. “The real issue is enforcement. Sanctions need to be applied quickly, consistently and without exceptions, both to clubs and to individuals responsible for violence and hate speech.”