West Ham has accepted the UEFA penalty issued after a number of fans disrupted their Europa League match against Genk. West Ham has acknowledged confirming football news that they have accepted UEFA’s sanctions prohibiting club supporters from attending the club’s next Europa League match against Rapid Vienna.
On November 25, the Hammers will now play in Vienna but without any of their fans in attendance. The club is now in process of providing refunds to fans who bought tickets for the game and has also encouraged fans not to travel to Austria.
A club statement read: “Despite the club’s robust processes around our own security and operations in support of our ticketed fans who traveled to Genk, evidence has been presented to confirm that a small number of ticketless individuals caused disturbances and illegally gained entrance to Genk’s stadium.”
“West Ham United condemn the behavior of this group of individuals and we are working to identify them following their actions, which have now ultimately led to our supporters – the vast majority of whom behaved impeccably in Belgium – being punished and resulting in David Moyes’ team being forced to play in Austria without the backing of the club’s fans, whose loyal and passionate support has spurred the Hammers on during an unbeaten opening four games of the Europa League adventure so far.”
“While the club accepts the sanctions, we also wish to place on record our disappointment at the extremely short notice of the measures, which were received eleven days after the fixture in Genk and just over a week ahead of the match against Rapid Vienna which has limited our options significantly and has sadly impacted supporters who have booked return travel and accommodation in Austria. The club has had to consider these supporters and the impact on them both for this fixture and future fixtures if this process was subject to further delays.”
