In an effort to stamp out the growing problem of racism in club soccer, players who make racist remarks or gestures on the field will receive bans, while clubs whose supporters chant racist remarks will face fines, according to new disciplinary regulations announced today by UEFA. Any player who insults another on grounds of color, race, religion or ethnic origin now faces a maximum five-game ban. Clubs whose supporters engage in racist or discriminatory face minimum fines of $24,250. Other sanctions UEFA said it was willing to enforce include forcing teams to play in empty stadiums, awarding matches by default, deducting points, disqualification from competitions and closing the actual stadium grounds. It’s all part of UEFA’s new hard-line stance against “extremist ideological propaganda.” Other regulations put forth by the disciplinary committee include maximum two-match bans for players faking injuries or duping referees into making an incorrect decision. Also, if five or more players from the same team are shown yellow cards in the same match then the team can be punished under new “improper team conduct” regulations. Also, obvious errors, such as mistaken identity, can be reviewed. Otherwise, the rules committee stresses that all on-field decisions are final. Many of these added regulations are to dissuade individual players and clubs from trying to influence referee decisions.