League of Nations –
Match shortened due to anti-Kosovar chants
This Friday’s match between Romania and Kosovo had to be stopped shortly before the end of regulation time due to hostile chants coming from the stands.
Published today at 12:17 p.m.
Romanian players celebrate their promotion to League B of the Nations League following the referee’s decision to stop the match in the 89th minute.
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The Romania-Kosovo match, counting for the 5th day of the League of Nations, was stopped on Friday in Bucharest after anti-Kosovar chants against Kosovo players were sung from the stands.
As the match was about to end 0-0, some of the supporters chanted “Serbia, Serbia!”, pushing the visiting team to leave the pitch. The authorities then decided to permanently stop the game.
UEFA said on its official website that the match had been “stopped” and the final remaining minutes of play would not be played. The European body “will communicate further information in due time,” she added. Before the match, Romania was first in Group 2 of League C with 12 points, ahead of Kosovo (9 pts).
Serbia never recognized the independence of its former province of Kosovo in 2008 and has maintained, in Serbian areas, so-called “parallel” institutions, from schools to hospitals and pension funds.
Around 100,000 Serbs live in Kosovo, according to recent estimates, a figure impossible to verify because the Serb populations boycotted the latest censuses.
Romania also does not recognize the independence of Kosovo.
Encounters under tension
This incident is the latest to date during a football match. Last week, serious incidents followed the Europa League match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel-Aviv in Amsterdam, in a context of high tensions due to the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Strip. from Gaza.
Israeli supporters were chased and beaten in the streets of the Dutch capital, attacks which left 20 to 30 injured and sparked outrage in many Western countries. Before the match, Maccabi fans chanted anti-Arab chants and burned a Palestinian flag in the central Dam Square.
In Spain, a Mallorca supporter was sentenced in September to 12 months in prison and a three-year stadium ban for racist insults targeting Brazilian Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior and ex-Villarreal player Samuel Chukwueze. The Brazilian has been the victim of numerous incidents of the same type in several stadiums since his arrival in Spain in 2018.
AFP
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