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Saturday, February 03, 2007

Platini stands by Italian Federation

New UEFA President Michel Platini has assured he’ll work alongside the FIGC to solve the growing problems of fan violence.

"First of all I make my personal condolences to the family of Chief Inspector Filippo Raciti, who lost his life last night," said Platini.

"Violence is totally unacceptable and has no right to exist within the football world. We condemn it, will not accept it and intend to tear it out of the sport.

"With this also in mind, we offer our full support to the actions taken by FIGC Extraordinary Commissioner Luca Pancalli, who suspended all the national Championships and the international games."

Pancalli ordered the "indefinite" suspension as a result of last night’s rioting the marred Palermo’s 2-1 win in Catania.

It’s feared this will put a large dent in Italy’s hopes of hosting the Euro 2012 tournament, where they are short listed along with Croatia-Hungary and Poland-Ukraine.

"It’s too early to say. But if they did take Euro 2012 away from us, it would be deserved," said Pancalli when asked about the bid.

However, Platini’s statement took the specific pressure off the Azzurri ahead of the April 18 deadline for choosing the hosts.

"The death of a Paris Saint-Germain fan, the riots caused by Feyenoord supporters in Nancy, these all raise our concerns over the violence that is once again insinuating itself in football," continued Platini.

"We must work together with the football authorities and Italian Government to support this sport and find a solution to this spiral of violence that is contaminating Europe."


Source: C4 Football Italia

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