Kick It Out, the football anti-racism group, has described as groundbreaking Uefa's decision to ban the Wisla Krakow defender Nikola Mijailovic for five European games for verbally abusing Blackburn's striker Benni McCarthy.

The forward's complaint that he was racially abused by Mijailovic during last week's Uefa Cup tie in Poland was upheld by Uefa last night.

The director of Kick it Out, Piara Powar, said: "A ban for five matches is strong stuff and very welcome. It is the sort of sanction that people across Europe will think, 'There is a message to be learned here'. The concern in the past has been that many incidents have gone unpunished."

The South African striker was so incensed at the barrage of racist abuse to which he was subjected by Mijailovic during last Thursday's match that he squared up to the Serb at the end of Rovers' 2-1 victory last Thursday. McCarthy had informed a number of opposing players and the referee, Stefan Johannesson, of the nature of Mijailovic's comments at half-time but the taunts continued in the second period.

Blackburn immediately issued a formal written complaint to both Uefa and the English Football Association, detailing their concerns, which included a statement from McCarthy and another player who witnessed the abuse.

European football's governing body assessed that report yesterday, as well as seeking the comments of the referee, and have banned Mijailovic for the remainder of the group stage and a potential knockout game.

The 24-year-old had strongly denied making racist comments to McCarthy. "Both of us were swearing, but there was no racist abuse at all," he insisted. The defender has until midnight on Monday to appeal.

The sanction will please the Blackburn's manager Mark Hughes, who had backed McCarthy in his pursuit of Mijailovic. "We must try to take this kind of thing out of football," he said. "If you ignore it and accept it, it will continue to be in the game.