UEFA has banned Slavia Prague centre-back Ondrej Kudela for 10 matches after the Czech international racially abused Rangers’ Glen Kamara last month. Initially, Kudela was handed one-match ban by UEFA’s disciplinary committee. Cnstant pressure from the Scottish club and other anti-racist organisations led the governing body open proceedings against him last week.
The Czech defender had allegedly made a racist comment while covering his mouth towards the end of the Europa League match. Since the incident in March, both Kudela and Slavia Prague have repeatedly denied the accusations raised by the Rangers midfielder.
As reported in their press release, UEFA has taken the following decisions:
“To suspend Slavia Prague player, Mr. Ondrej Kudela, for the next 10 UEFA club and representative team competition matches for which he would otherwise be eligible to play, for racist behaviour, which includes the one-match provisional suspension served by the player during Slavia Prague’s 2020-21 Europa League quarter-final first leg match against Arsenal on April 8, 2021.”
The decision, however, did not go down well with Glen Kamara’s lawyer, who claims that Kudela’s sanction is “the barest minimum penalty” and “a mockery of Uefa’s claims on taking racism seriously”.
The Rangers have lauded Kudela’s suspension, but have appealed to Europe’s highest football governing body, questioning the clarifications on the punishments received by Kamara and Roofe.
Following the verdict, Kudela released a statement through his lawyers saying that he was “surprised” by the decision and denied the accusations pressed against him. Although he did admit swearing at Kamara in the ill-tempered match at Ibrox.
“In retrospect, I realise that it was a mistake to go to Glen Kamara at all and tell him anything. There were emotions in the match and unfortunately, I can’t take it back now. I’m so sorry.”
Kudela said.
While Slavia chairman Jaroslav Tvrdik said that the club “respect the decision… and apologise to Glen Kamara for a situation that has clearly caused distress to him and his team-mates. I am taking positive steps to prevent such a situation from happening in our club ever again.”
But Slavia themselves had accused Kamara of attacking Kudela inside the stadium after the match. UEFA punished the Rangers midfielder banning him for one game with their ethics and the disciplinary committee still investigating the matter.
On March 18, Rangers hosted Slavia in the second leg of the Europa League round of 16 tie. With the scores 1-1 on aggregate, the match saw both sets of players clashing with one another frequently, with tensions flaring throughout the game.
Rangers forward Kemar Roofe was sent off in the 61st minute for a harsh challenge on Ondrej Kolar, who suffered a fractured skull. He has now been banned for four games, while his club received a 9,000 euros penalty for failing to control their players. Both Kamara and Roofe’s punishment only applies to Rangers’ European fixtures.
The Glasgow club claimed their players received online racial abuse after the infamous game and thus to tackle this situation, decided that all their players and staff were to boycott social media for a week.
“It is vital that our players and staff are protected online. We outlined our strong belief that social media companies should make it mandatory to provide identification before being able to obtain an account”
announced the club in an official statement.
