Croatia fined twice over World Cup crowd trouble

(Reuters) - Croatia have been fined twice by FIFA over crowd trouble at their last two World Cup qualifiers while Greece, Scotland and Romania have also been sanctioned. The Croatia federation was fined 35,000 Swiss francs ($38,070) because of incidents at the home match against Belgium on October 11, and another 15,000 Swiss francs for trouble at the game in Scotland four days later. The Scots were also fined 10,000 Swiss francs after being held responsible for security at the October 15 match, FIFA said in a statement. The Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) group said that during the Belgium match, Croatian supporters made far-right salutes which were used during World War II by the fascist Ustase movement. Greece were fined 30,000 Swiss francs for crowd trouble during the home match against Slovakia on October 11. "The Greek group Brigade Hellas displayed a banner featuring a Triskele, which resembles a three-armed swastika and is used by the far-right," said FARE. Romania were fined 10,000 Swiss francs for incidents in the match at home to Estonia on October 15. According to FARE, these incidents included the display of a banner in support of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, a Greek political party, by Romanian supporters. (Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne; Editing by Robert Woodward)