Slavia’s Ondrej Kudela gets 10-match Uefa ban for ‘racist behaviour’ at Rangers

Slavia Prague’s Ondrej Kudela has been banned for 10 matches by Uefa after being found guilty of racist behaviour towards Rangers’ Glen Kamara at Ibrox in the Europa League last month.

A one-match provisional suspension given to Kudela last week was included in the sanction, European football’s governing body said. Uefa also banned Kamara for three matches after finding he assaulted Kudela in the tunnel after the game.

Kamara was incensed after Kudela whispered into his ear during the match on 18 March. Kudela denied racism.

Kamara’s account was supported by his Rangers teammate Bongani Zungu and Uefa’s control, ethics and disciplinary body has found Kudela guilty of using racist language.

The body’s full written reasons will be published at a later stage, and both sanctions are open to appeal.

Kudela’s ban from Uefa games rules him out of representative team competition matches, meaning he will miss games for the Czech Republic in the European Championship this year.

Slavia play at home to Arsenal in a quarter-final second leg on Thursday with the tie level at 1-1.

Kudela said something to Kamara while covering his mouth, and on Wednesday the former Netherlands international Clarence Seedorf told a Council of Europe meeting on combatting hate speech: “If I want to [cover my mouth to] talk to my coach or a teammate, all fine, but when I approach the referee or another player in any sport, you are not allowed to cover your mouth, it has to be a sanction, a yellow card.”