Politics comes to the stadium, episode 6.765. The Romania-Kosovo match, played on Friday in Bucharest as part of the 5th day of the League of Nations, did not come to an end. As the match was about to end 0-0, chants of “Serbia, Serbia” were chanted in the stands in the 93rd minute of play.
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In view of the historic Kosovo-Serbia conflict, these songs pushed Lille's Edon Zhegrova and his teammates to leave the pitch in full added time, not without clashing with Romanian players. The authorities immediately decided to permanently stop the game. UEFA indicated on its official website that the match had been “stopped” and that the final remaining minutes of play would not be played.
Flags bringing together Romania and Serbia
The European body adds that it “will communicate further information in due course”. Before the match, Romania was first in Group 2 of League C with 12 points, ahead of Kosovo (9 points). Serbia never recognized the independence of its former province of Kosovo in 2008 and it 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. This incident was accompanied on Friday by flags mixing the colors of Romania and Serbia waved in the stands.
