FIFA fines Senegal's football federation for $180,000 post Mohamed Salah laser incident

FIFA has fined Senegal's football federation a whopping $180,000 following trouble witnessed in the side's clash against Egypt during the World Cup qualifiers. Egypt captain Mohamed Salah missed a clear goal-scoring opportunity from the penalty spot after his vision was blurred by a vivid green light shot at his eye by a fan in the stands.

FIFA fined Senegal for fan trouble against Egypt

Due to a green laser pointed at Mohamed Salah's eye during the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Senegal, the Egyptian star winger could only manage to blast his effort over the bar. As a result, Senegal went on to win the shootout in Dakar in March, with Sadio Mane scoring the decisive penalty.

FIFA's disciplinary committee looked into the trouble caused by Senegalese fans that including the incident involving Salah, a pitch invasion, and an offensive banner, amongst others. As a result of the Senegal federation's failure to keep law and order in the stadium, they were fined a staggering 175,000 Swiss francs ($180,000) on Monday. And that is not it, as Senegal were also told to play a competitive game in front of an empty stadium.

Other countries fined by FIFA

The FIFA disciplinary panel also judged dozens of similar cases from World Cup qualifying games played since January and handed out several other fines and stadium closures.

Nigeria was punished with a 150,000 Swiss francs ($154,000) fine and one-game stadium closure. Fans invaded the field in Abuja and there were other incidents of disorder after Nigeria was eliminated at home by Ghana in their playoff.

FIFA imposed fines of 125,000 Swiss francs ($128,000) on Congo and 100,000 Swiss francs ($103,000) on Lebanon in similar cases at games against Morocco and Syria, respectively. Both got one-game stadium closures.

Discrimination by fans of Chile and Colombia at their home games, plus other offences, resulted in total fines of 95,000 Swiss francs ($98,000) and 55,000 Swiss francs ($56,500), respectively.

With the FIFA 2022 World Cup set to take place towards the end of this year, fans will hope that no disruptions are caused in the stadiums and that they can watch their favourite teams play a fair and competitive game.

(Inputs from AP)