Editorial: Banning teams is the way to tackle football racism

The disgraceful behaviour of some Serbian football fans towards England's under-21 team on Tuesday night was bad enough: English players report being subjected to racist chants and pelted with stones and coins, even before the brawl that broke out between the two teams at the conclusion of the match.

Worse still, the Serbian Football Association is now categorically denying there was any racist element to the debacle, flatly contradicting the clear video evidence (and the claims of the England defender Danny Rose) that supporters made monkey noises throughout both the warm-up and the game itself.

The European sport's governing body has a feeble record on tackling racial abuse. Now is Uefa's chance to send an unequivocal message that there is no place for racism in football. A fine is not enough. Serbian teams must be banned from playing in Europe.