November 21 – UEFA have ordered Kosovo to forfeit their Nations League tie in Romania as punishment for leaving the pitch in second-half stoppage time with the score 0-0 after hearing pro-Serbia chants.
The Kosovo players walked off in Bucharest last Friday after fans in the crowd shouted ‘Serbia’, leading to the game to be abandoned just before the end.
In its ruling, UEFA deemed the Kosovo football federation “responsible for the match not being played in full” and said the team would forfeit it 3-0.
The decision means Romania will be promoted to League B of the competition as winners of their group, while Kosovo go into a promotion play-off after finishing runners-up.
The Kosovar FA also incurred a €6,000 fine for “the improper conduct of its team” after five players received yellow cards in the game, the same number as Romania.
But Romania certainly didn’t get off without sanction, their federation being fined €128,000 for a series of disciplinary breaches.
UEFA ordered Romania to play their next home game behind closed doors for “racist” chants by supporters targeting neighbouring Hungary.
In addition, Romania were sanctioned for “provocative political messages not fit for a sports event” and disturbances during the Kosovar national anthem.
UEFA also punished the Romanian FA for the throwing of objects, lighting of fireworks, use of laser pointer and the blocking of public passageways.
Animosity between Kosovo and Serbia has persisted since the war between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents in the late 1990s.
Kosovo and Serbia do not play each other in UEFA and FIFA tournaments and Romania is one of only a handful of countries that doesn’t recognise Kosovo, who declared independence in 2008, as a sovereign state.
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