3 Oct 26
UEFA Nations League Group A3
Croatia v England
Stadion HNK Rijeka
Rijeka, Croatia
England's third Nations League Group game in Rijeka was played behind closed doors (BCD) because of racist chanting by their fans in Croatia's Nations League QF against France in 2025. This was the second BCD game for a fixture involving Croatia v England in Rijeka. On 12 Oct 18 the Nations League Group game was also played behind closed doors after a swastika appeared on the pitch prior to a Euro 16 qualifier against Italy. Croatia has always had a prominent right wing/nationalist element linking back to the 'Ustasha' which was a movement formed in 1929 to promote an independent state. It was backed by the Nazis and Mussolini's Facists
Although the match was officially BCD about 6,200 under 14 local kids and the top 100 England fans managed to get access. The cut off for the top 100 was based on 'all time caps'. The bar for this was extremely high with 314 being the lowest. I was way off the mark with a meagre 226 but fair play to the '100'
Day 1:
Day 2:
Day 3:
