Czech Republic captain Tomas Rosicky has been ruled out of the rest of his country’s Euro 2016 campaign with a thigh injury.
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UEFA said on Saturday it had opened disciplinary proceedings against the soccer federations of Croatia and Turkey for crowd trouble during two games at the Euro 2016 tournament in France this week.
The Czechs have one point in Group D and will nearly certainly need to beat Turkey in their final Group D match on Tuesday to have a chance of advancing to the knockout round of the competition.
Croatia faces additional charges over alleged “racist behaviour”, while Turkey faces charges linked to a pitch invasion by supporters.
Croatia had been leading 2-1 when the flares were thrown, but after the stoppage the Czechs scored with a penalty to force a draw.
Even the country’s president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic described the violent fans as “enemies of Croatia”.
He became the oldest player to feature for the Czech Republic at a European Championship, and also holds the record for having been the youngest ever to appear for the same side at a Euro tournament also. Inside the stadium, five fans were arrested for the possession and throwing of flares. But 20 Russians detained near Marseille were to be expelled on Saturday.
French investigators believe the group includes violent and well-prepared hooligans, but it has proved impossible to bring specific charges despite police studying over 200 hours of video footage. They drew a Nazi swastika symbol on a pitch before a Euro qualifier against Italy past year.
The match, which ended 2-2, was halted in the 86th minute when flares from the Croatia end rained down on the Saint-Etienne pitch.
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UEFA then ordered Croatia to close an 8,000 section of their ground for their next game and fined the federation 100,000 euros.
