PARIS - Paris Saint-Germain could face sanctions from UEFA after European football's governing body on Thursday said it was opening an investigation into crowd trouble at this month's Champions League match against Red Star Belgrade.
The game, which PSG won 6-1 at the Parc des Princes, is also being probed by French investigators over suspicions of match-fixing by the Serbian champions, when a senior official of the club allegedly bet millions of euros on the team to lose by five goals.
The Ligue 1 leaders have been charged over "setting off fireworks" and "crowd disturbances", and were also fined 20,000 euros ($22,960) for a delayed kick-off. As PSG had already had one stand closed due to flares being let off during last season's last-16 exit to Real Madrid, they could be handed a heavier penalty if found guilty this time.
PSG coach Thomas Tuchel was also given a warning by UEFA over the late kick-off. In addition to the incidents inside the Parc des Princes, clashes erupted between fans and police after the game outside the stadium.
Meanwhile, Russian side Rubin Kazan have been suspended from European competition for one season after breaking UEFA's financial fair play (FFP) regulations, European football's ruling body said Thursday. "The club is excluded from participating in the next UEFA club competition for which it would otherwise qualify in the next two seasons," UEFA said.
The ban will come into effect if Rubin qualify for either the Champions League or Europa League in 2019/20 or 2020/21. Currently fifth in the Russian Premier League, Rubin did not qualify for Europe this season. UEFA's financial fair play rules stipulate that a club cannot spend more than their generated revenue. PSG are also in the midst of a UEFA FFP probe after spending more than 400m euros in the 2017 summer transfer market to buy Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.