Montenegro FA vow to ban fans guilty of racist chanting against England for LIFE

Montenegro's Football Association has promised to ban fans who were involved in racist chanting against England from ever attending another national team match.

UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings against Montenegro, including a charge of racist behaviour, following the Three Lions' 5-1 Euro 2020 qualifying victory.

Several England players - including Raheem Sterling, Danny Rose and Callum Hudson-Odoi - were the target of racist abuse, with monkey noises heard during the match in Podgorica. Hudson-Odoi also had a lighter thrown at him.

The Montenegrin FA have now confirmed that they will take strong action if UEFA find them guilty of the charge. The case will be heard on May 16.

In a statement, they said: 'If the proceedings prove that there was racist behaviour in the stadium, The Montenegrin Football Association (FSCG) will take all the necessary measures to identify the irresponsible individuals who might have caused such incidents and will ban them from all future matches organised by FSCG.

The FSCG also claimed that the monkey noises directed towards England's players was the first incident of racism they had suffered during an international game.

'We haven't had any incidents involving religious, gender or racial discrimination at international matches before and we are certain that they will not happen in the future,' the statement continued.

'There is no room for such behaviour in a multi-cultural and a multi-ethnic society like Montenegro.'

Montenegro also face charges relating to crowd disturbances, the throwing of objects, setting off of fireworks and the blocking of stairways at the Gradski Stadion, UEFA announced in a statement.

The minimum punishment they can expect if found guilty of racist behaviour is a partial stadium closure, while a fine is also likely.