Croatia head coach Ante Cacic has called his country’s supporters who threw flares on to the pitch during the match against the Czech Republic as ‘sports terrorists’.
The match, which ended 2-2, was halted in the 86th minute when flares from the Croatia end rained down on the Saint-Etienne pitch.
“They are not really Croatia supporters. These people are scary and I call them hooligans,” Cacic was quoted as saying by the BBC on Friday.
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Cacic also hoped the Croatian football federation (HNS) will take action, adding, “95 per cent of Croatian supporters are ashamed in front of Europe. This is maybe just a question about six to 10 individuals. I hope they can be identified and punished. I hope the Croatia FA is doing everything to prevent this, but it is impossible to avoid,” the head coach said.
Prior warning Meanwhile, HNS said on Saturday that UEFA and the French police had been warned ahead of the trouble-hit match that hooligans were planning to disrupt it.
“In the preparation of this match, HNS did everything possible to prevent incidents and therefore both UEFA and the French police were warned of hooligans’ intentions to interrupt it,” a federation statement said.
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