Referees can stop matches amid racist chants: UEFA

VILNIUS (Reuters) - UEFA on Thursday approved new guidelines for match officials to deal with racist chants or other behaviour in stadiums which includes stopping the game.

The new rules would allow the referee to first stop a match and issue a warning over the public address system requesting that the racist behaviour cease. If this did not work, he could suspend the game for 5 to 10 minutes.

"As a third and final step, if the racist behaviour does not cease after the game has restarted, the referee shall as a last resort, definitively abandon the match," UEFA said in a statement.

The executive body also decided that any consequences, such as forfeit, stadium suspension, fines or others, from the racism outbreak "will be dealt with by the UEFA disciplinary bodies".

A number of racist incidents, mainly involving chants from home fans, have blighted matches in recent years and UEFA have often been criticised for imposing relatively minor fines and sanctions on the governing body of offending nations.