He Competition committee of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) will meet this Tuesday afternoon to evaluate possible sanctions derived from the eighth day of The Leagueincluding the partial closure of the stadium Metropolitanafter the embarrassing incidents that occurred during the derby between the Atletico Madrid and the Real Madridplayed this Sunday.
Both clubs have until noon to submit their allegations to the referee’s report. Mateo Busquets Ferrerwho in his report details the following: “In the 64th minute, from the bottom of the south wing, several objects were thrown at the area where the visiting goalkeeper was (Thibaut Courteous), without any of them touching him. Among these, three lighters and a bottle of water were identified. As a result, the object throwing protocol is activated, requiring the field delegate to communicate the message through the stadium loudspeakers so that said launching stops.
However, objects continued to be thrown from the same area, leading the referee to temporarily suspend the match: “Finally, in the 67th minute and given the continuous repetition of objects thrown from the same area, the match was temporarily suspended. match, ordering the teams to withdraw to the locker rooms […] The match resumes without further incidents,” added the referee in his report.
This type of incident is classified in article 107 of the RFEF Disciplinary Codewhich designates as a “serious alteration of the order of the match” when the events present a danger to the integrity of the players, the referees or any other person present in the stadium.
The article establishes that, if it is the first time in the season that such a thing happens, the club responsible will be sanctioned with a fine of up to 6,000 euros and the partial closure of the stadium for a match, in addition to a warning. total closure in the event of a recurrence.
Since the incident with Courtois is the first of this season, other previous situations are not considered precedents, such as the sanction imposed on Atlético de Madrid in the 2023/24 season after the racist incident against Nicholas Williams in the match against Athletic.
Despite this, due to the seriousness of what happened and its impact, Atlético’s punishment is expected to be the partial closure of the Metropolitan Stadium. This would be the fourth time in the site’s seven-year history that a sanction of this type has been imposed, although it has not always been applied. This is the most recent precedent, that of racist insults towards the younger Williams, because according to the appeal committee, Atleti acted with “the greatest possible diligence”.
The story of the Metropolitan
June 2018. UEFA orders the partial closure of the Metropolitano (3,000 seats) due to racist behavior and the launching of flares and fireworks during the Europa League final in Lyon.
April 2022. UEFA orders the partial closure of the Metropolitano (5,000 seats) due to the discriminatory behavior of its supporters during Manchester City – Atlético, at the Etihad Stadium.
April 2024. The disciplinary committee orders the partial closure of the Metropolitano for two matches (and 20,000 euros) for racist insults against Nico Williams at Atlético – Athletic. The appeal overturned the sanction.
September 2024. Possible partial closure of the Metropolitano due to objects being thrown, including lighters, at Thibaut Courtois during the Atlético – Real Madrid derby.
The Front Atlético and its members will once again cost Atlético dearly, an entity that claims to have its “hands tied” on this issue. Because? Because the group, for which its members pay a membership fee each year, is not officially recognized by the club itself. Currently, the southern zone where the radicals are located has around 5,000 supporters, more than a third of whom belong to Front Atlético.
The club should carry out a census of all supporters belonging to official clubs, a measure which was implemented after the murder of Francisco Javier Romero Taboada,’Jimmy‘, an ultra of Deportivo de La Corunain 2014. This is the second death attributed to Front Atlético, after that of Aitor Zabaletafan of Royal Societyin 1998. However, Frente Atlético refused to officially register, at the cost of having their official club status withdrawn. Today, Atlético claims that it does not have a system allowing it to identify subscribers belonging to this radical group.
The main obstacle that Atlético de Madrid claims to act on is legal. The club can expel a member if they participate in altercations or disturbances, as will be the case with supporters who threw lighters and other objects during the derby. However, the law does not allow the expulsion of those who do not have a criminal record or who have participated in punishable acts.
Real Madrid And FC Barcelonaunder the initiative of its presidents, Florentin Pérez And Jane Laportayes they took the players out of their stadiums Ultras South and the Beitherixos Noisethe most radical sectors of his hobbies. They did so through prolonged threats. At Atleti, neither Michael Angel Gil Marine neither one nor the other Henry cherry They worked actively to end the presence of ultras in the southern Metropolitano.
Compadreo with the locker room
And in the dressing room, as the gestures observed during Atleti’s home matches reveal, they also give a presence to the Front. At parties, with gifts… A notable camaraderie is observed during the derby controversy, with the dialogue of Simeone, koke either Giménez with some of these radicals, and after the derby, when the team celebrated the draw with the same sector of the stands that had caused the match to be suspended for 20 minutes.
Faced with the controversy, Koke – captain of the team – declared: “The Atlético Front? The club will have to do what it has to do with its supporters, it’s not me who will say if it has to kick someone out of a football stadium. or not.”
Giménez, addressing the most radical fans of Atlético de Madrid
However, the incident with Courtois is not an isolated event. Atlético de Madrid have already suffered three previous sanctions due to the partial closure of the Metropolitano, and the attitude of the ultras has also been questioned on other occasions, such as when they hung a doll of Vinicius of a bridge in January 2023 with the message ‘Madrid hates Real’. This act resulted in the arrest of four people, including three members of Front Atlético.
The rest of the mattress fans have long had enough. What happened during the derby prompted many parents to leave the stadium with their children before the end, so that they would not witness more violent images. Fans who remained seated also whistled as the players celebrated with the Front. The southern ultras of the Metropolitano have become the shame of their own supporters… and of Spanish football.
