Code of Discipline of the Hungarian Football Federation

Policy Response DateJune 25, 2010 Country: Hungary General Type: Racist violence, Racist discourse Racism and discrimination phenomena: Anti-semitism, Anti-roma/zinghanophobia
Groups affected / Interested in: Ethnic minorities, Religious minorities Key socio-economic/institutional areas: Sport

The new Code of Discipline of the Hungarian Football Federation[1], which came into force on 1 July 2009 (last modified: 25 June 2010), covers the Hungarian Football Federation, the regional football federations in Hungary, the sport organisations, the players, the sport professionals and the members of the audience.

Racist/intolerant behaviour or expressions (and defamation as well) are explicitly considered as misdemeanours to be sanctioned, which is a new feature in this context in Hungary. Section III on Disciplinary Sanctions, Article 10, the Code sets the maximum limits of fines: 50,000,000 Ft (approx. 200,000 EUR) for professional clubs; 500,000 Ft (approx. 2,000 EUR) for amateur clubs. In cases of such misdemeanours, players should be excluded at least 5 matches from participation, members of the audience might be banned from the stadium for 2 years. Clubs might be fined and/or ordered to organise closed-door matches because of the misdemeanour of their fans; or might be sanctioned with championship score reduction, or even with re-classification to a lower league.

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[1] Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség Fegyelmi Szabályzata [Code of Discipline of the Hungarian Football Federation], http://www.szabolcsfoci.hu/letolt/fegyelmi.pdf (2012.02.19.)