MOSCOW, February 25 (RAPSI) – A Russian court has ordered a Spartak Moscow fan to pay compensation to the football club for waving a Nazi swastika at a match, R-Sport reported Tuesday.
Spartak were fined $16,896 in November and ordered to play two games behind closed doors by the Russian Football Union as punishment for violence that erupted at the game, which included the display of the swastika banner.
The club sued the fan for 15 million rubles ($422,402) in damages. Leninsky District Court in the city of Vladimir, where the defendant reportedly lives, partially granted its claim and ordered the supporter to pay around 1.5 million rubles ($42,240).
The incident took place during Spartak’s Russian Cup game away to Shinnik Yaroslavl, which it won with a 70th minute penalty. The match had to be suspended for 20 minutes when Spartak fans let off flares, threw seats and fought with police, resulting in 78 arrests.
The violence prompted outraged headlines in Russia’s sports papers, which warned that hooliganism threatened to wreck football in the country as it prepares to host the 2018 World Cup.
Spartak Moscow is one of the country's most successful football clubs. It won 12 Soviet championships and 9 out of 19 Russian championships, as well as lifting the Soviet Cup 10 times and the Russian Cup 3 times.
Shinnik, meanwhile, is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Yaroslavl Regional Commercial Court is due to consider a lawsuit n March 24 filed by Pro
Sports Management, a consulting company that organizes events, to declare the second-tier club bankrupt.
