What’s going on with fan disorder at European games?
Given Young Boys’ history and the fact that the club’s last major offensive took place in Manchester, questions will arise as to why the club are free to be based at Villa Park but Maccabi Tel Aviv are not.
Switzerland, whose teams played 116 matches, was among the countries with the worst behavior in Europe and ranked 44th among 50 countries. Israel is in 37th place.
The Israeli club was banned from taking part in this month’s Europa League tie due to what West Midlands Police said were “violent clashes and hate crime attacks” in previous matches. Birmingham Council’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) blocked the allocation of away tickets due to the high risk of fans attending.
Of course, there were special circumstances surrounding the Maccabi match, such as Villa Park being in a Muslim-majority area and tensions arising from the Israel-Gaza war. Protests outside the field before and during the match led to the arrest of 11 people.
When BBC Sport asked whether Young Boys was given the same importance, Birmingham Council said it would not comment on individual cases. But he added that banning Maccabi fans was a unanimous decision following advice given to the club by SAG based on police assessment.
The fact that Young Boys fans were not disturbed by the crowd during their probation period shows that this could be a deterrent.
However, although small fines imposed for incidents such as acts of racism and discrimination constitute a significant portion of suspended sentences, they remain below the target.
However, nearly all of the 16 stadium bans awaiting enforcement stem from racist or discriminatory behavior. This includes home matches against Croatia, Georgia and Romania played behind closed doors.
But Qarabag were fined just €5,000 (£4,379) this week for racist abuse by at least one fan during an academy match against Chelsea in Azerbaijan on November 5.
Atletico Madrid was fined just €30,000 (£26,275) and given a one-match postponement from selling away tickets to fans for monkey gestures, noises and Nazi salutes during the 4-0 Champions League defeat against Arsenal on 21 October.
