Serbia and Switzerland will meet in the final match of the opening group of the Men’s World Cup on Friday at 21:00.
You can watch the episode of the Football World Map series in the main picture of the story, which tells what happened between the teams in the World Cup in 2018, and how the previous meeting is reflected in Friday’s meeting.
The first group stage of the FIFA World Cup will culminate in the meeting between Serbia and Switzerland. Both teams need a win to advance to the playoffs.
At the 2018 World Cup, the match between the national teams, which unexpectedly turned into a battle pair, has been preloaded. In the previous games, Switzerland won a heated battle 2–1 and marched in front of Serbia’s nose to the next games.
Switzerland’s star players are causing discord between the teams Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka the goal airings made four years ago and the controversies between the Balkan nations left over from the breakup wars of Yugoslavia.
Shaqiri and Xhaka, whose background is Kosovo Albanian, scored Switzerland’s goals in the match. Both showed off their hits by forming a double-headed eagle with their hands, known as the symbol of the Albanian people. The symbol in question is also often associated with the idea of Greater Albania, which includes the disputed Kosovo in the Balkans.
– I’m sorry, but I can’t discuss my gesture. We are footballers, not politicians, Shaqiri said after the match ended in front of the press, explaining that he vented with the “feeling” that arose.
Shaqiri missed Belgrade
Shaqiri and Xhaka’s airing gestures provoked the Serbians. Part of the Serbian media described them as trying to humiliate the Serbs with their gestures. The two eventually received a fine of around 10,000 euros from Fifa for their vents.
In the end, they partially apologized.
– I’m sorry about what happened. I would be a fool to do the same again, Xhaka said.
– Of course I’m sorry if someone was hurt by my act, Shaqiri formulated.
Especially Shaqiri, who scored the winning goal, became hated in Serbia. Even before the start of the previous World Cup, the Serbs had been provoked by the soles of his playing shoes. They were decorated with two flags: the left of Switzerland, the right of Kosovo.
When Liverpool, represented by Shaqiri, faced Belgrade’s Crvena Zvezda (Finnish Red Star) in the Champions League in the fall of 2018, the Swiss missed the away match to ensure his own safety.
Now Xhaka and Shaqiri have said that they want to focus on football and winning an important game.
– I am a professional. Whether we played against Cameroon, Brazil or Serbia, the match is very similar to me, Xhaka commented at the beginning of the tournament.
More bad blood before the match
However, more bad blood has surfaced during the tournament, this time from the Serbian side. During the team’s opening match against Brazil, a photo taken in the Serbian dressing room showed a banner featuring Kosovo.
The banner featured a map of Kosovo, colored in the colors of the Serbian flag. The text above it read “Nema Predaje”, meaning “no surrender”. The Football Association of Kosovo filed a complaint with Fifa about a week ago, as well as about a similar banner seen in the stands. The International Football Association is currently investigating the matter.
Read more: The Kosovo Football Association filed a complaint about the banner seen in the Serbian dressing room: “Shows xenophobia and refers to genocide”
The Serbian team has been silent on the matter, and the country’s football association has not published its position.
– I don’t know where it ended up there, topper Stefan Mitrovic said after the Brazil match.
– We are here just to play football, midfielder Marko Grujic continued.
The country’s foreign minister Ivica Dacic in turn, poured more gasoline on the flames on social media. He called Kosovo’s demand for discipline a “provocation” and reported (you switch to another service)that the Serbs living in the territory of Kosovo “will never surrender”, as the flag read.
There have been other political statements from Serbian supporters in the tournament. In the Cameroon match, supporters shouted that Kosovo is part of Serbia.
In addition to this, the Russian sports media Championat published On Twitter (you will switch to another service) picture of a Serbian supporter holding a flag in the stands praising the union between Russia and Serbia. The flag combined the Serbian and Russian flags and coats of arms. It was decorated with the text: “Same colors, same religion”, referring to the countries’ Orthodox majorities.
– There is no politics in this ticket, I only support my brothers who share the same religion. I was able to take the ticket through the security check, having brought the ticket to the stand Dragan said in Championat’s video.
The political and historical starting points for the match are clear, but on the field football is decisive. It is easy to expect a tight atmosphere from the fight due to the desire of both teams for the next place, even if you don’t see expressions like eagle fans or political flags.