Rome’s Lazio soccer club handed suspended stadium ban for antisemitic chants

Three fans were banned for life by club after pictures of supporters performing fascist salutes and wearing the number 88, a numerical code for ‘Heil Hitler,’ circulated online

By AP 4 April 2023, 7:37 pm

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Lazio fans cheer before the start of a Serie A soccer match between Roma and Lazio at Rome's Olympic stadium, March 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

ROME — Lazio was given a suspended partial stadium ban Tuesday after some of its fans directed antisemitic chants at Roma during the city derby last month.

The Serie A judge ordered the Curva Nord, the northern end of the Stadio Olimpico where Lazio’s hard-core “ultra” fans sit, to be closed for a game but suspended the sentence in consideration of Lazio’s decision to hand out three lifetime bans to involved spectators.

If there is another case of fan misbehavior over the next year, Lazio will be ordered to serve the one-game partial stadium ban in addition to any new penalties.

One fan who wore a shirt with a reference to Adolf Hitler at the derby and two others who performed Roman salutes, which are associated with fascism, were banned for life by Lazio.

Authorities reviewed security camera footage from inside the Stadio Olimpico after pictures of the fan wearing a Lazio shirt with the name “Hitlerson” and the number 88 — which is a numerical code for “Heil Hitler” — circulated on social media following Lazio’s 1-0 win over Roma.

Lazio was already ordered to play a game with part of the Stadio Olimpico closed to spectators earlier this season after fans directed racist chants at Lecce defender Samuel Umtiti and winger Lameck Banda, who are both Black.