Hungary fans protest outside closed-doors game

22 March 2013 21:16

Several thousand Hungarian fans demonstrated outside the Ferenc Puskas stadium in Budapest on Friday where Hungary faced Romania in a World Cup qualifying match played behind closed doors.

World football's governing body FIFA ordered the match to be played "without any spectators" after anti-semitic incidents marred a Hungary-Israel friendly in Budapest last August.

FIFA said that during the game "a group of supporters had chanted anti-Semitic chants, and displayed other offensive symbols".

The Hungarian football federation (MLSZ) also fined 40,000 Swiss francs (33,000 euros).

At the demonstration, which was organised by the far-right political party Jobbik, fans chanted nationalist slogans and carried flags and banners expressing solidarity with the 1.2-million-strong ethnic Hungarian minority in Romania.

Around 4,000 fans also attended an outdoor screening of the game organised by the MLSZ at another location in the city.

Source: AFP