June 17 – Albania are facing four UEFA charges over a “provocative message” allegedly displayed by their fans during the European Championship loss to Italy at the weekend.
UEFA say the Albanian FA is facing disciplinary proceedings over the message, plus the throwing of objects, use of fireworks and an “invasion of the field of play.” One person entered the field of play near the end of the game, which Albania lost 2-1.
UEFA didn’t say which message it objected to, only that the charge relates to “transmitting a provocative message unfit for a sports event.”
Some Albanian fans displayed flags of the Kosovo Liberation Army referring to the fact that ethnic Albanian separatists fought a 1998-1999 war with Serbian forces in what was then the province of Kosovo.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008 but Serbia is one of the few countries that doesn’t recognise it as independent. A flag depicting a map of ‘Greater Albania’ was also displayed at the Italy game – not for the first time.
The charges are the first disciplinary matters announced by UEFA during the Euros but an Albanian FA spokesperson said it planned to submit an official explanation.
“We would like to emphasise that all necessary measures were taken to ensure the successful organisation of the match,” a statement said. “The event was a celebration of European football, and no major incidents occurred that would detract from the positive atmosphere.”
The latest protest came a decade after a European championship qualifying match between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade was abandoned in the 41st minute when the players clashed amid longstanding enmity between the two countries.
The match was interrupted after a drone carrying a banner with the same ‘Greater Albania’ flag was flown over the pitch. UEFA first declared Serbia had been handed the abandoned match 3-0 but an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport saw the ruling overturned and registered a 3-0 win instead to Albania – a result that helped the country secure its first-ever participation in a European championship in France in 2016.
Despite long-standing political tensions over Kosovo, last month Albania and Serbia surprisingly announced they had joined forces to bid to host the 2027 U-21 European championships.
However, an ultra-nationalist Albanian group of fans known as ‘Plisat’ immediately called on Albania to withdraw from the joint candidacy.
“We do not understand why a part of Albania, especially the official part, has set itself the task of rehabilitating the image of Serbia in the eyes of the world,” the fans said in a statement at the time.
“Serbia remains what it was for hundreds of years: genocidal, fascist, anti-Albanian and above all it is still the conqueror of our lands. Therefore, we call on the federation to withdraw from the candidacy and not to continue this matter. You cannot cooperate with a state that still considers Kosovo its own.”
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