An independent report has stressed it is impossible to use pyrotechnics safely within spectator areas at football grounds and only properly equipped and trained staff should ever try to deal with them.
Commissioned by Football Supporters Europe and UEFA, the 72-page report has been prepared by Cambridgeshire-based "explosives consultant" Dr Tom Smith and several leading experts from around the continent.
The report lists the various pyrotechnics brought into grounds by fans - everything from bangers to Roman candles - and identifies the serious risks they pose, which include severe burns, acute toxic effects, impact injuries and causing panic.
As Dr Smith concludes: "T here are significant health and safety risks arising from their use in close proximity to other people and in contravention of the safety distances which are specified on the pyrotechnic articles themselves.
"All pyrotechnic devices have a 'safety' distance for good reason and which will exceed the available space within a crowded stand or stadium. It is not safe, therefore, for any pyrotechnic device to be used in spectator areas within football stadia."
UEFA has become increasingly concerned about the use of fireworks, flares and smoke bombs at games and has been fining clubs and countries for failing to stamp out this dangerous practice.
Celtic and Liverpool are among the clubs to have been fined in recent seasons, while Copenhagen were fined for their fans' use of flares at Leicester last season.
Perhaps the most serious incident took place in last summer's European Championships, when pyrotechnics thrown by Croatia fans led to a delay in their game against the Czech Republic and a near miss for a steward who has trying to clear flares from the pitch.
Commenting on the report, UEFA vice-president Michael van Praag, the chairman of the organisation's working group on pyrotechnics, said incidents are currently being reported at more than a quarter of all European club games and this report "proves once and for all that there is no place for pyrotechnics in stands".
Van Praag, who is also president of the Dutch football association, said UEFA was now working with all the national governing bodies to keep them out of grounds.
"UEFA recognises that pyrotechnics might be perceived to be part of fan culture in some countries," Van Praag added. "Many fans will not change their behaviour overnight.
"But the message from this report is clear: pyrotechnic use is putting the health, safety and lives of fellow supporters at risk."
Source: PA
