Updated 2.52pm with full court details

Two men on Wednesday admitted to charges of throwing flares and causing damage at the Centenary Stadium during a Champions League match between Ħamrun Spartans and Maccabi Haifa of Israel. 

Saleh Jawamis, 26, and Shachar Dekel, 23 were sentenced to a year's jail term suspended for three years.  They were also banned from sports venues in Malta and fined €300 each.

The referee was forced to stop the match twice because of crowd trouble. Order was restored soon after the first incident but the situation degenerated in the first ten minutes of the second half when fans of Maccabi lit flares a second time, leading to a backlash by the Spartans fans seated a few metres away, who reportedly threw water bottles.

[attach id="1332728" size="large" align="left" type="image"]Police deal with supporters of Maccabi Haifa. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli[/attach]

Prosecuting Inspector Sarah Kathleen Zerafa told the court that stewards at the ground had identified the two accused who were holding flares. 

One of them when personally searched in the bathroom, had three flares in his underpants. Inspector Matthew Attard exhibited one of the flares in court, measuring roughly 30cm long

In a statement earlier, the police said that they searched everyone entering the stadium.

Some Maccabi Haifa fans were found to be carrying flares, "even near their intimate parts", police said.

"Despite all the efforts made some still managed to take flares into the stadium and the incidents happened when some Maccabi Haifa supporters lit and threw some flares," they said. 

The police said they took immediate action to avoid further trouble.

Flares thrown on the pitch led to the match being suspended twice. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

No one was injured and at no time did the supporters approach each other, the police said.

They said that during the incidents, six Israeli fans were taken out of the stadium.

As a result of the investigations that followed, two of them were held under arrest and taken to court on Wednesday in front of Magistrate Ian Farrugia.

In light of their early admission they were each handed a 12-month jail term suspended for 3 years and a fine of €300. They were also banned from any sports facilities or grounds for one year. 

They were to pay their fine by Thursday morning at 9:00am or else face problems if they tried to leave Malta. One of them was due to fly out on Wednesday afternoon while the other had already missed his flight. 

"Don't cause trouble at the airport," the magistrate warned.