Why do Man City fans boo the Uefa Champions League anthem?
MANCHESTER City made history as they secured their first Champions League win this year.
Despite winning the Champions League, Manchester City fans are known for booing during the anthem but why do they do this?
Man City fans routinely boo the Champions League anthem before games
Why do Man City fans boo the Champions League anthem?
Man City supporters didn’t start booing the anthem over night, rather several decisions that has created a dislike in the majority of the club’s supporters towards Uefa.
It began during the 2011-12 Europa League campaign, when Porto were fined 20,000 euros due to fans racially abusing former City striker Mario Balotelli.
However, a month later citizens received a 30,000 euro fine for returning to the pitch 30 seconds late for the second half during their fixture against Sporting Lisbon.
Fans disliked grew in 2014 when Uefa hit them with a £49 million for breaking Financial Fair Play rules, along with transfer spending and squad size restrictions.
Later that year tensions peaked when City fans had pre-booked flights and hotel rooms to watch the club’s match against CSKA Moscow later learning the Russian club had a stadium ban.
Despite this, some City supporters attempted to enter the stadium but were stopped despite hundreds of CSKA fans being inside the stadium in front of Uefa delegates.
The Moscow club did have their ban reduced due to an appeal but received no sanctions or consequences.
In February 2017, City were due to face Dynamo Kyiv in the Round of 16, the game was due to be played behind closed doors and fans knew not to travel abroad.
However, Uefa overturned the ban weeks before the game but it was too late for City fans to arrange any travel or accomodation.
What other teams boo the Champions League anthem?
Manchester City isn’t the only team that has booed the Champions League anthem.
In 2018, Barcelona fans whistled throughout the anthem before a match against Tottenham.
Fans dislike began in 2015, when fan’s showed their support for Catalan independence by showing the Estelada flag.
Barcelona was fined £21,000 and later £28,000 due to a repeat offence during the 2015-2016 season in a match with Bayer Leverkusen.
Uefa consider the flag to be a political symbol and it’s therefore banned, despite it representing the separatist movement to separate Catalonia from Spain.
Can fans be punsihed for booing the Champions league anthem?
European clubs cannot be punished for their supporters booing the Champions League anthem or any other Uefa themes after the governing body decided to alter its disciplinary regulations.
In October 2015, the Uefa match delegate at Man City’s home Champions League game reported the club for breaching regulations surrounding supporter behaviour when fans booed the anthem.
However, Uefa’s disciplinary body ruled City wasn’t going to be sanctioned after reviewing the case as they believed fans should be able to express their dissent.
The body also decided to update regulations as a consequence of similar cases.
Article 16G of Uefa’s measures previously stated in 2015 that associations and clubs would be liable for disruption during national and competition anthems.
However, the change meant the reference to competitions was removed and instead they’re only responsible for supporters causing a disturbance during national anthems.
