European Football Championships on channels 14.6.–14.7. Go to the competition website from this link.
There is a lot of excitement at the European football championships. The reason can be found in the inflamed relations and history of the Balkan countries.
On Wednesday, during the match between Croatia and Albania, the supporters of both countries had shouted “kill, kill the Serbs”, the head of the Serbian Football Association claims, among other things Jovan Surbatovic.
Surbatovic threatens the Serbian According to Nova Sportthat Serbia will leave the European Championships unfinished.
– First of all, I want to thank our fans for their support in the England match, and I hope we beat Slovenia. What happened in the match between Croatia and Albania is scandalous. We demand sanctions from Uefa, even at the risk of not continuing in the tournament.
According to the boss of the Serbian federation, Serbia was already punished in the tournament, although the country’s fans “behave much better than others”.
– One fan was fined for racist behavior, and we don’t want it to be used as a reason for others. We Serbs are gentlemen and have an open heart, so I appeal to the fans to remain so.
Surbatociv says he is confident that UEFA will punish Croatia and Albania severely, as UEFA had already reacted to one of the Serbian appeals. But if Uefa does not react, he said, Serbia is ready to take more drastic measures – citing the threat of withdrawal.
Departure passes for the reporter
Serbia’s previous appeal mentioned above is related to Uefa taking away the accreditation from a Kosovar journalist From Arlind Sadik, who was present at the match between England and Serbia. The reporter had made an eagle gesture towards the Serbian fans.
Sadiku had been reporting for the broadcast in front of Serbian fans. Serbian fans had chanted “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia”. Serbia does not recognize the independence of Kosovo. At the end of his report, Sadiku had made “eagle” gestures towards the fans.
The double-headed eagle is, among other things, the symbol of Albania. It has become a topic of discussion at value competitions before.
For example, in 2018 at the World Championships, Switzerland Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri were fined by Fifa for airing the symbol’s double-headed eagle. Xhaka and Shaqiri are from Kosovo Albanian backgrounds. The national symbol and political statements are prohibited in Fifa matches.
Ethnic Albanians make up nearly 93 percent of Kosovo’s population, and the two countries have close ties. The eagle symbol represents the double-headed eagle on the flag of Albania.
Reporter Sadiku told For the Guardian, that his social media has been filled with death threats. Sadiku admitted that he acted unprofessionally, but said that his gesture was “instinctive and emotional”.
– People don’t know how I felt at that moment, because I have a trauma from the war. My home was bombed in the middle of the night when I was a child. I was sleeping and woke up to find glass and blood on me.
Serbia and Albania have already been fined
UEFA’s discipline has already been busy enough during the preliminaries.
The Serbian football association already received a fine of 10,000 euros, the reason for which was the fans’ “transmission of a provocative message inappropriate for a sporting event”. In addition, Serbia was fined 4,500 euros when fans drank pints.
Prior to that, the Kosovo Football Association had lodged a complaint about the Serbs’ actions at the England match – flags, chants and posters, which the Kosovo Association said were “political, chauvinistic and racist”.
The Serbian fans had, among other things, a banner where Kosovo was marked on the map as part of Serbia. Flags referring to ethnic cleansing and the war in Yugoslavia were also seen.
Serbia’s supporters have also been in the news during the Games for their pro-Russian sentiment. The supporters have been singing Vladimir Putin chants both in the stadium and on the street before the Ukraine match on Monday. Russian flags were also seen at the Serbian match.
The Albanian federation has already been fined a total of 37,375 euros. Albania’s fans had also presented a banner in the Italy match, where the country’s map extended into the territory of the neighboring countries. In addition, Albania was fined for fan flares, throwing things on the field and spectators rushing onto the green.
Tougher sanctions?
Sports expert Mehmet Hetemaj opened the relations of the Balkan countries on ‘s broadcast before the match between Albania and Croatia. The relations between these countries are warm, because usually everything is reflected in the common enemy – Serbia.
Of course, the distances to Serbia also vary. For example, the president of the Albanian federation has applied for the 2027 U21 European Championships together with Serbia. He has received a lot of hate from the Albanians because of that.
Croatia became the first Western Balkan country to join the EU in 2013. Albania and Serbia have been EU candidates for a long time.
Docent at the University of Helsinki Brendan Humphreys sees the situation in the Balkans as increasingly complex. For example, relations between Serbia and Croatia are not very warm, on the other hand, Croatia has tried to promote Serbia’s EU project.
As for the Albania-Croatia match and possibly the continuation of the Serbian fans in the games, more fines from UEFA can be expected.
Hetemaj is a Kosovar Albanian by background. He hopes for tougher measures from Uefa. He does not believe that racism can be eradicated with small sanctions.
– I think there is too much banter. Whatever racism it is, it is always very serious.
Hetemaj reminds us of the kind of treatment that, for example, Swiss players of Kosovar background have received in matches against Serbia in previous prestigious tournaments.
– This (fines) doesn’t help anymore. Yes, the team has to suffer in some way so that people understand that if you go there, you will not take banned tickets or shout banned shouts. It should be punished somehow more concretely.
On Thursday, in the European Championships, the matches of group C Serbia–Slovenia (4 pm) and Denmark–England (7 pm) and the top match of group B Spain–Italy (10 pm) will be played.