September 27 – Serbia and Albania are set to co-host the men’s Under-21 European Championship in 2027 in a landmark project that aims to overcome ethnic political tensions.
UEFA said Thursday only the Serbia-Albania bid met a deadline this week to file detailed tournament plans. Belgium and Turkey had previously declared interest earlier in the bidding process scheduled to be decided at a December 16 meeting of the UEFA executive committee.
The Serbian and Albanian federations teamed up in May to plan organization of the 16-team tournament played every two years that needs eight stadiums to host 31 games.
Albania FA leader Armand Duka, who is a UEFA vice president, said at the time that “it’s a 100% football project” with “a very good political message that we can get across.”
Weeks later at the Euros held in Germany, however, historic tensions between the Balkan countries burst into the open at separate games
An Albania player was banned by UEFA for using a megaphone to join fans in nationalist chants, including targeting Serbia, after a game against Croatia. Fans of Albania and Croatia earlier joined in anti-Serb chants.
UEFA fined both the Albanian and Serbian federations in separate incidents for fans displaying politically motivated banners about neighbouring Kosovo.
An Albanian fans group daubed red paint on their federation’s offices in May when the dual bid with Serbia for the Under-21 Euros was first announced.
“We did have a few negative reactions from fans, mainly, and some interest groups,” Duka said then, “but not from the Albania government.”
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