Euro 2012 Qualification: Italy vs Serbia

There are worse fans than the English

Italy vs Serbia was a fiasco, with Serbian fans causing havoc by throwing flares on the pitch and lighting fireworks. The Scottish referee Chris Thomson had to abandon the match after just six minutes, and that was after a 40 minute delay before kickoff.

Here's how the FIFA rules go about abandoning matches:

Under the section about 'authority of the referee' and his 'powers and duties':
“The referee: … stops, suspends or abandons the match because of outside interference of any kind”

FIFA rules about abandoned matches: “An abandoned match is replayed unless the competition rules provide otherwise.”

UEFA rules about abandoned matches in the Euro Cup: “Si un match est arrêté avant la fin de la durée réglementaire de la rencontre ou lors d’une éventuelle prolongation en raison de l'état du terrain ou pour d’autres raisons, il doit être rejoué intégralement le lendemain ou à une autre date convenue par l’association organisatrice et l’association visiteuse, sous réserve de l’approbation de l’Administration de l’UEFA. Un accord correspondant doit intervenir dans les deux heures qui suivent la décision de l’arbitre d’annuler le match. En cas de désaccord, l’Administration de l’UEFA fixe la date et l’heure du coup d’envoi du match. Sa décision est définitive.”

As best I can translate it in my poor French (and with Google's help): “If a match is stopped before the end of normal time or any extra time during the meeting due to ground conditions or for any other reason, it must be replayed in full the next day or on another convenient date for the organising [home team] association and the visiting [away team] association, subject to approval by the UEFA administration. An agreement must occur within the two hours that follow the arbiter's [in this case, the referee's] decision to cancel the match. In case of disagreement, the UEFA administration will fix the date and time of the match's kickoff. Their decision is final.”

From the official UEFA website: “UEFA now awaits the receipt of the official UEFA delegate's match report before deciding whether to open a disciplinary case.”

The match could be reorganised, or Italy could simply be awarded a 3-0 win by UEFA.