Levski battle racist fans with visual lesson in the unacceptable

By Alexander Krassimirov
August 27 – Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia have started an educational campaign in a bid to combat the extreme racism of their fans. The club is one of the most frequently fined by the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU). Recently the fines for Bulgarian teams for racist incident, of which there are sadly many, have been increasing.

Levski have published a series of pictures on their website of characters and logos that fans are not allowed to reproduce on banners and display at the stadium.

“Dear fans, we are presenting to you a sample of FARE’s (Football Against Racism in Europe) catalog of discriminatory symbols and signs,” says the website. “The appearance of such signs is assessed as discrimination and racism and leads to severe financial penalties, where the minimum is Bulgaria BGN 37,500 (18 750 Euros).

“In the illustrations is given a shortened version of the characters which are unacceptable to appear on stadiums in Bulgaria and in particular Georgi Asparuhov stadium.
PFC Levski calls on its supporters to support the desire of the club to combat racist and discriminatory acts (including monkey noises, throwing bananas and other discriminatory shouts, chants, etc.) in Bulgarian football. Stadiums should not be used for political activity, whether in favor or against any party.”