Bulgaria's Lokomotiv fined for fans' racist behaviour
ByReuters
Updated 11/08/2015 at 19:14 GMT
Lokomotiv Plovdiv are considering whether to quit the Bulgarian league after the country's FA fined the club 37,500 levs (£13,600) on Tuesday for their fans' racist behaviour during the match against Litex Lovech.
Lokomotiv Plovdiv fans
Image credit: Reuters
The BFU said that Lokomotiv fans made racial and discriminatory slurs during the 1-1 draw against leaders Litex on Saturday without giving further details.
The 2004 Bulgarian champions Lokomotiv, however, categorically denied any wrongdoing and said they are considering quitting the league, keeping only their youth teams.
"This is another insanity in Bulgarian football," Lokomotiv's senior official Nikolay Nedelchev told local media. "I was in the stands and I swear there's not a single racial slur.
"We didn't throw bananas and there were no offensive banners. Judging by the fine, (people) in Europe would think that we have done some unique blunders."
Lokomotiv matches have a history of crowd trouble with the team being ordered to play behind closed doors or at neutral venues after fan violence on several occasions in recent seasons.
"All that bias stuns me, I'm extremely disappointed," said Nedelchev. "We're discussing to quit the championship because it's so frustrating and demotivating.
"We'll not pay (the fine), we'll appeal. Racism should be condemned... but this is a phantasmagorical allegation."
Winless Lokomotiv are ninth in the 10-team Bulgarian league with two points from four matches.
Bulgarian soccer authorities have long been criticised by anti-racism campaigners, local media and fans for not cracking down hard enough on discrimination in sport.
The BFU were not immediately available to comment.
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