Georgia appeal partially upheld

Georgia will not have to stage next Wednesday's replay of the UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifying match against Russia in Tbilisi behind closed doors. However, the Georgian Football Federation (GFF) will instead have to pay a fine of €53,000, and the match will be watched by a limited number of spectators.

Appeal upheld
UEFA's Appeals Body has partially upheld an appeal by the GFF against the initial ruling that Georgia would have to play one match behind closed doors, made by the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body earlier this month following incidents at the Group 10 qualifying match against the Republic of Ireland in Tbilisi on 29 March.

Limited attendance
Next Wednesday's match will still be watched by only a limited number of spectators. UEFA has formally acknowledged the proposal of the GFF that access to the match should be granted to the 11,000 ticket holders from the abandoned qualifier against Russia on 12 October last year. The match was abandoned at half-time because of floodlight failure at the Lokomotivi stadium in Tbilisi.

Crowd disturbances
The initial closed-doors penalty handed down by European football's governing body followed an examination of crowd disturbances at last month's match, which the Republic of Ireland won 2-1. Missiles were thrown from the crowd, and Irish player Kevin Kilbane was struck by a penknife. Having examined all the evidence of the case, the Appeals Body concluded that the punishment issued by the Control and Disciplinary Body was inappropriate.