Serbian club face punishment for tribute banner to Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic

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FT Desk

Serbian club Crvena Zvezda face punishment from UEFA after their supporters displayed a tribute banner to Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic.

The banner was shown during the club's Europa League playoff tie against Viktoria Plzen, which they lost 5-4 on aggregate. They won the first leg 3-0 at home but lost the second 5-1.

Crvena Zvezda, previously known as Red Star Belgrade, posted images on its social media feeds of its fans holding up banners stating: “General, eternal glory and thanks”.

Mladic was a general and military commander during the Bosnian War. He commanded the Army of Republika Srpska and became one of the most prominent figures in the conflict.

🫡 pic.twitter.com/Mrh9Tnuf9w

— FK Crvena zvezda (@crvenazvezdafk) August 27, 2026

He is particularly associated with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were killed after Bosnian Serb forces captured the UN-declared safe area of Srebrenica. He was also held responsible for crimes connected with the prolonged Siege of Sarajevo, during which civilians were subjected to shelling and sniper fire.

After the war, Mladic remained a fugitive for roughly 16 years before being arrested in Serbia in 2011 and transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

In 2017, the ICTY convicted him of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes and sentenced him to life imprisonment. His convictions included genocide at Srebrenica, persecution, extermination, murder, deportation, terror, unlawful attacks on civilians, and hostage-taking. His conviction and life sentence were upheld on appeal in 2021.

He died on Thursday aged 84, a few hours before Crvena Zvezda played in the Europa League.

UEFA has launched disciplinary proceedings against the Serbian club, with European football’s governing body confirming on Friday that it is investigating three separate alleged breaches. The charges relate to “racist and/or discriminatory behaviour”, the transmission of a message deemed unsuitable for a sporting event, and “improper conduct of the team”, UEFA told The Athletic in a statement.

Following the match, the Srebrenica Memorial Center, which commemorates the 1995 genocide, wrote to UEFA over the banners, arguing that they should not be treated simply as an act by individual supporters and that the club was also culpable.

The Center said in a statement: “A club that consciously uses its official communication channels to spread messages glorifying a man legally convicted of genocide cannot reduce such behaviour to the behaviour of fans.”

“This is no longer just a question of the fans, but of the club’s institutional relationship to the values ​​on which UEFA bases European football.”

Crvena Zvezda are Serbia’s most successful club, having won a record 37 national league titles and the 1991 European Cup.