The Bulgarian Football Federation (BFU) criticised FIFA for the decision to ban fans from their next home World Cup qualifier against Malta and said they would appeal against the sanction levied against it for supporter racism.

The punishment was imposed by FIFA’s disciplinary committee on Tuesday after a group of supporters racially abused Denmark substitute Patrick Mtiliga every time he touched the ball in October’s Group B qualifier in Sofia.

In an unusually strongly-worded statement, FIFA described the incidents at the Vasil Levski stadium as “offensive and discriminatory”.

Bulgaria, who play Malta in a Group B match on March 22, were also fined €29,000.

“Our main motive will be that we were punished disproportionately for racism and discriminatory behaviour of a very small group of the crowd in the Bulgaria v Denmark match,” BFU’s president Borislav Mihaylov said.

“We were punished not only with a game behind closed doors but we were also fined.”

The BFU said it will seek the support of the interior ministry to try to identify the trouble-makers and impose stadium bans “for a long time”.

Unbeaten Bulgaria have made a solid start to their campaign and are second in Group B with six points from four matches, four behind leaders Italy.

The Maltese national team lost their three group matches so far to the Czech Republic (1-3 away), Italy (0-2 away) and Armenia (0-1 home).