The Croatian and Serbian football federations were fined by FIFA’s disciplinary committee on Wednesday for incidents involving ethnic provocations at the World Cup.
FIFA fined the Croatians 50,000 Swiss francs (€50,580) after the team’s fans verbally abused and taunted Canada goalkeeper Milan Borjan, who has ethnic Serb family ties.
The Serbian football federation was fined 20,000 Swiss francs (€20,230) for a political banner about neighbouring Kosovo displayed in the locker room before playing Brazil in the team’s opening game.
The banner in Serbian colours showed a map of the country that included the territory of its former province, which has been an independent state for nearly 15 years, and the slogan “No Surrender”.
The Kosovo football federation formally complained to FIFA about the banner, which was hung over two Serbia players’ lockers on 24 November.
Canada’s Borjan was born in a region of Croatia with a significant percentage of ethnic Serbs, one of the Balkan country’s main minorities.
During Canada’s 4-1 loss to Croatia on 27 November, one banner displayed by Croatian fans used a logo of tractor manufacturer John Deere and changed the marketing slogan to target Borjan.
