Soccer-Platini ponders women, children rule instead of closures

By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy MOSCOW, Oct 22 (Reuters) - CSKA Moscow will face no disciplinary action after several hundred people watched Tuesday's Champions League match against Manchester City despite it being played behind closed doors, UEFA said on Wednesday. UEFA president Michel Platini is also pondering whether women and children should be allowed in future into matches where clubs have been sanctioned, rather than closing the stadium completely, European soccer's governing body added. UEFA said it had reviewed officials' reports from Moscow and found no breach of the conditions imposed. "Only people who were allowed to enter the stadium (clubs delegations, media, security staff, UEFA and guests of sponsorship partners) attended the match with no record of inappropriate behaviour," the body said in a statement. "If we say it's behind closed doors, then it's supposed to be behind closed doors to the general public, but there are always tickets given to VIPs, UEFA staff and sponsors," added UEFA spokesman Pedro Pinto. "Our sponsors and partners pay a lot of money to be associated with the competition and are contractually entitled to receive a number of tickets." UEFA said they could not stop "a limited number of sponsors and corporate guests" from supporting their team but the issue was being discussed and a better solution could emerge. Pinto said Platini had discussed on Tuesday the possibility of inviting women and children to attend for free, as was done in Turkey a few years ago. CSKA were ordered to play three European home matches behind closed doors and were fined 200,000 euros ($250,360) following a UEFA disciplinary hearing on Oct 3. The decision came after their fans were found guilty of a series of offenses including "racist behaviour of supporters, crowd disturbance, setting off/throwing of fireworks and missiles" away to AS Roma in Italy on Sept. 17. CSKA also played their first Champions League home match against Bayern on Sept. 30 behind closed doors as punishment for their fans' racist behaviour last season. CSKA President Evgeny Giner said after the 2-2 draw that it was time to review closed-door policies. "There are a few fans who do not behave in the correct way. So don't let them go into the stadium," he said. "The CSKA supporters are our 12th man. I love them very much and have the upmost respect for them." "We were forced to play our home matches behind closed doors because of what happened in Rome," he added. "We wrote to UEFA and asked them to let in women, children, as well as those from orphanages and soldiers. But alas the match delegate has clear instructions, so he did not have the power to do anything," said the CSKA President. CSKA Moscow media officer Sergey Aksenov said 360 people, whom he said had been given VIP tickets as members of a 'Champions Club' of UEFA sponsors, had attended the match. A sizeable number of CSKA fans also gathered in sub-zero temperatures outside the stadium, where they made their presence felt. Some could be heard making offensive chants, clearly audible from the top of the main stand, against UEFA. (Additional reporting by Mike Collett in London; Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne, editing by Alan Baldwin)