UEFA announced on Monday that it had opened disciplinary proceedings against the Serbian football federation for the alleged inappropriate behavior of its supporters, on the sidelines of the match lost by Serbia against England (1-0) at Euro-2024, Sunday in Gelsenkirchen.
The investigation concerns more specifically “throwing objects” and “provocative messages which have no place in the context of a sporting event”, detailed the European body in a press release.
“The UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) will decide the matter in due course,” it is specified.
In the meantime, the Serbian (FSS) and Kosovar (FKK) football federations have filed a complaint against each other with UEFA, for the same matter.
The FFK accuses Serbian supporters of having displayed “flags” and chanting “slogans and songs… carrying chauvinistic and racist political messages against Kosovo”.
“The propagation of such racist messages during an event like Euro 2024 is senseless and absurd,” criticized the Kosovo body, demanding “strict disciplinary measures against the Serbian Federation, described as a “repeat offender”.
For its part, the FSS accuses a Kosovar journalist of having made an Albanian nationalist sign.
Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia have never ceased since the war between Serbian forces and Albanian insurgents (seeking independence for Kosovo) in the late 1990s, which left thousands dead and led to an intervention of NATO against Belgrade.
Pristina declared its independence in 2008, but Serbia fiercely opposes any recognition of Kosovo in international bodies.
The stormy relations between these two Balkan neighbors regularly spill over into the sporting field. Belgrade, however, was unable to prevent Kosovo’s admission to UEFA and FIFA in 2016.
Unlike Serbia, Kosovo failed to qualify for Euro 2024.
