It was in mid-October that Sweden beat Estonia 3-0 away in the Nations League group stage. On Friday, Uefa announced that the Estonian Football Association would be punished for events in connection with that international match.
Uefa writes that it is “racist and/or discriminatory behavior”, and that the Estonian Football Association is forced to pay 10,000 euros, equivalent to 116,000 Swedish kronor in fines.
The football channel has been in contact with Eva Nõmme, press manager at the Estonian Football Association. She says that it all concerns a flag that was put up in the home supporters’ section on one short side.
In an email, she gives her view of what has happened, according to the association:
“The situation has no connections to the Swedish national team, referees, players or fans,” writes Nõmme to Fotbollskanalen.
“Uefa opened the case due to a supporter’s flag that has been at all Estonian national team home matches for over ten years and nobody (including UEFA’s match delegates) has said anything about the flag (all flags are up at least a day before each match for inspection). The flag has also been to away games without any problems”.
She continues:
“Neither this time did the Uefa match delegate make any remark about the flag, but the case was subsequently opened based on a letter from a spectator”.
Nõmme claims that the flag has no racist or discriminatory element. Instead, she claims that it is connected to Estonia’s history and Estonian society.
“We explained to Uefa that we strongly condemn racism and discriminatory behavior, which is integrated into all our rules. Therefore, this situation came as a total surprise to us, also because there have been no such incidents with our fans. We were not aware that there were some problems with the flag”.
The Estonian Football Association has asked Uefa for a justification for the decision, Nõmme states.
