Alexander Zhukov: “Thousands of fans should not suffer because of a group of hooligans”

President of the Russian Olympic Committee Alexander Zhukov considers it weird that normal CSKA fans have to suffer because of the actions of a small group of hooligans.

“We can teach those jerks only by not letting them to the stadium, but for normal fans the inability to come and cheer for their club is nonsense. So it turns out that all fans are punished because of several criminals. It seems weird,” – said Alexander Zhukov in an interview with R-Sport.

On Friday, CSKA was punished and ordered to play its next three home matches behind closed doors by the Union of European Football Associations UEFA, and it was also banned from selling tickets to its supporters for the next two matches which the club will play as the visiting team. In addition, the CSKA was also fined 200,000 euros.

Head of the ROC noted it was necessary to educate the fans. “It’s not normal for a club to play a lot of matches without supporters, especially thanks to a few groups of hooligans. I think that the club leaders and the fan groups should make a serious effort to avoid it, in order not to punish their own team”, – he added.

The sanctions followed the incident at the UEFA Champions League away match against Roma, which took place on September 17 in Rome. During the second half, CSKA fans started throwing fireworks the Italian fans. In addition, some CSKA fans tried to break into the their sector. As a result they started fighting with stewards.