WARSAW, June 20: UEFA faced criticism for fining the Croatian Football Federation 80,000 euros ($100,000, 64,500 pounds) after a section of fans racially abused Italy’s Mario Balotelli during their Group ‘C’ game in Poznan on June 14.

A stiff penalty had been expected after Russia were threatened with a six-point deduction from their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign for further serious crowd trouble and because of UEFA’s repeated insistence of “zero tolerance” on racism.

But many people highlighted the harsher punishment meted out to Denmark’s Nicklas Bendtner, who on Monday was slapped with a one-match suspension and 100,000 euro fine for displaying sponsored underpants during a goal celebration.

Manchester City and Belgium captain Vincent Kompany wrote: “Racist chants 80k fine. Commercial stunt 100k fine + 1 match ban... UEFA might need to review their order of priorities, don’t you think?”

He added: “Surely if you were a sponsor, you would consider racism as a more dangerous association?”—AFP