Chile punished over homophobic chants

Paris : FIFA hit Chile with a two-match stadium ban and a 30,000 Swiss franc ($29,000/28,000 euros) fine on Monday for a fresh bout of homophobic chanting by their fans.

The Copa America champions are barred from playing at their Santiago home stadium for matches against Paraguay and Ecuador next year.

This is the eighth time since October 2015 that Chile has been sanctioned by FIFA for similar homophobic incidents by their supporters.

The latest case involved chanting at Chile's 2018 World Cup qualifier against Uruguay on November 15.

FIFA announced in a statement that the ban and fine "relate to homophobic chants by the team's fans and follow previous sanctions for similar incidents during the preliminary competition of the 2018 FIFA World Cup".

FIFA also took action against Romania following incidents which marred their qualifier against Poland in Bucharest last month.

Romanian fans threw a firework at Poland's Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski and on the terraces supporters from both countries fired flares at one another, causing the game to be halted at one point. 

FIFA fined Romania 95,000 Swiss francs and banned them from playing at their Bucharest stadium for one match with a second match ban suspended.

A host of other federations including Honduras, Greece, Colombia and Venezuela were punishedover the conduct of their fans.

And the Solomons Islands were sanctioned for fielding an ineligible player in their November 7 match with Tahiti.

The game has been declared void, with Tahiti awarded a 3-0 win.