Original article (in Slovenian) was published on 9/4/2026; Author: Antun Katalenić
The Serbian football club Crvena Zvezda was sanctioned for a series of violations, including chants directed at European football’s governing body.
The Facebook page Slovenija Info Portal claimed in a 30 March post that the Serbian football club Crvena Zvezda had been “fined €95,500 after fans displayed a tifo featuring Jesus Christ.”
The post claimed that the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) penalized the club because its supporters displayed a tifo depicting “Jesus Christ or Saint Simeon the Myrrh-streaming, accompanied by the slogan ‘Let our faith lead you to victory.’” The page commented that UEFA, under the leadership of President Aleksander Čeferin, a Slovenian, had “crossed a line – not quietly, but with a loud, arrogant message: we decide what you are allowed to think, believe, and show.”
The Serbian portal Fake News Tragač, like Oštro a member of the European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN) and the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), found that the news regarding a UEFA fine for the aforementioned tifo had previously been reported by numerous Serbian media outlets, including the public broadcaster RTS.
The fan choreography, or “tifo” as fans call it, depicted Saint Simeon the Myrrh-streaming, the portal further reported. This is the saintly title of Stefan Nemanja, one of the most significant figures in Serbian medieval history.
As UEFA explained to Razkrinkavanje.si, no sanctions were imposed on Crvena Zvezda for the tifo displayed during the Europa League match against the French club Lille on 26 February in Belgrade.
Instead, a fine of €40,000 was issued due to the “transmission of a message not fit for a sports event” and for “bringing the sport of football and UEFA in particular into disrepute.” In their initial written response to Razkrinkavanje.si, they cited a banner reading “F*** UEFA” as the reason for the sanction. However, when requested to provide documentation confirming this, they stated that the penalty was in fact triggered by fans chanting “UEFA Mafia” after the match.
UEFA would not provide further details but announced that the full reasoned decision would be published on its website once it becomes final.
The club must pay a total of €95,500 due to a series of violations during the Belgrade match. In addition to the aforementioned fine, it received a €17,000 penalty for the use of fireworks, €10,500 for throwing objects onto the pitch, and €28,000 for blocking public passageways.
We have informed the administrator of the Slovenija Info Portal page of our findings and will publish their response once we have received it.
The claim that UEFA fined Crvena Zvezda because of a religious tifo is unfounded.
