Pro-Serbia Chants Halt Romania-Kosovo Soccer Match

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Facts

  • Tuesday's Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Euro 2024 soccer qualifying game between Romania and Kosovo in Bucharest was suspended for 45 minutes after home fans aimed pro-Serbia chants and banners at the visiting players 18 minutes into the game.1
  • Romanian ultras were shouting and displaying banners reading 'Kosovo is Serbia' when French referee Willy Delajod decided to halt the game. A separate banner that read 'Bessarabia is Romania' was also displayed about a region that's currently divided between Moldova and Ukraine.2
  • Romania eventually won the game 2-0, remaining unbeaten in the qualification zone with four rounds to go. It's likely to face punishment from UEFA for the banned political statement at its game.3
  • Before Tuesday's match, the ultras had vowed to revenge the treatment they'd received in Kosovo in June when Kosovar fan ultras reportedly booed the Romanian anthem and insulted the Romanian players.4
  • Ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo's independence from Serbia — unilaterally declared in February 2008 — is recognized by 100 countries. However, Romania is among a few EU countries that side with Serbia.5
  • Though Kosovo has previously played other countries that don't recognize its independence, issues were reported only in the 2016 World Cup qualifier as Spain refused to allow the display of a Kosovo flag and Ukraine opted to host a game in Poland.6

Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2Daily Mail, 3Associated Press, 4Balkan insight, 5BBC News and 6Www.euractiv.com.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Https://www.koha.net/en/. Given that opposing soccer fans must nurture a healthy rivalry and refrain from acting like wartime enemies, it's evident that stadiums are no place for promoting divisive political messages. The ultras have outrageously expressed their views as if they represented the entire nation despite potential negative implications.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Sputnik international. Whether sports governing bodies like it or not, Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia despite its admission to FIFA, as the UN has never recognized Kosovo as an independent state. It's completely inadmissible that people and organizations remain threatened and punished for simply stating the facts.

Predictions