June 27 – Jovan Šurbatović, general secretary of the Serbian Football Union, has announced he will leave his post following the national team’s elimination from Euro 2024.
He said it had made the decision to resign his post before the finals, and not because of the behaviour of Serbian fans. The news of his resignation comes as details of an aircraft ‘scandal’ emerged that saw the Serbian team leave for the finals in Germany on a plane that was registered in Croatia.
The President of the Assembly of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, said that the Serbian football team traveled to Germany for the European Championship on a Croatian plane, stressing that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, who got on the plane to see off the players, was furious.
“It’s a true story. It’s a shame, Vucic was extremely angry. We have our own Air Serbia and we all travel with that company. When the plane lands, you can see Air Serbia and that’s our pride,” said Brnabić.
She said that government had waited for the Serbian team’s elimination from the tournament before raising the issue so that public focus would not shift from supporting the team.
Brnabić added that “it is absolutely necessary to determine how it happened and who is responsible” for the fact that the Serbian national team members traveled on a Croatian plane.
In response Šurbatović said: “We did not take off on a Croatian plane, but on a German plane. The team manager of the national A team usually hires charter flights for the needs of our best team in situations where we do not have Air Serbia planes available. He collects offers in relation to the requirements of the professional team, i.e. hourly rates, capacity and chooses the best option.
“So a company from Germany was hired, the plane was German, but it turned out (that it was registered in Croatia), and we didn’t know that. We entered the plane through the tunnel, when we got out the plane was German and branded with our colors inside.
“Later on the plane, we found out that it was registered in Croatia,” continued Šurbatović.
He said that no-one knew where the plane was registered and there was no evidence to suggest that the plane was Croatian registered. He refused to blame his management for the situation.
“When things go wrong in the system, I as the Secretary General accept the responsibility, there are no problems. A national scandal… Those things happen, they happen, whether it was a political provocation, a set-up or not… It happened and it’s definitely a scandal,” he said.
Looking at the wider situation of football in Serbia, Šurbatović said that the federation faces a number of challenges that need to be addressed and that he had already told close colleagues that he planned to resign at the end of the tournament.
“We have many more important issues that the professional public should discuss. That’s where Serbian football is going, who will replace these players who played at the European Championship… Serious matches in the League of Nations are coming from September, and then from March the qualifiers for the World Cup. As someone who has been in football for a long time, I am seriously worried about the future,” he said.
Contact the writer of this story, Aleksander Krassimirov, at moc.l1719707914labto1719707914ofdlr1719707914owedi1719707914sni@o1719707914fni1719707914