February 5 – UEFA have formally appointed the Albanian and Serbian FAs as co-hosts of the European Under-21 Championship final tournament in 2027.
The historical – and often violent – rivalry between the nations off the pitch has been put aside for a project that attempts to break those political and social boundaries, as well as provide a springboard for both nations to upgrade stadia and other facilities with the support of UEFA.
The two federations teamed up in May to plan organisation of the 16-team tournament played every two years that needs eight stadiums to host 31 games.
Both hosts will have automatic entry in 2027 for the finals tournament that will be played at four stadiums in Albania (Tirana, Shkodër, Elbasan and Rrogozhinë) and four stadiums in Serbia (Novi Sad, Loznica, Leskovac and Zaječar). The opening match will take place in Serbia and the final will be held in Albania.
The National Arena in Tirana, Albania, has capacity for 22,000 spectators and hosted the final of the Europa Conference League in 2022.
This will be the first time the U21 Euro finals have been played in Albania or Serbia. Albania host the U17 Euro finals later this year, their first UEFA national-team final tournament. Serbia hosted the U17 tournament in 2011, while the Futsal Euro 2016 was played in Belgrade.
When announcing the bid Albania FA leader Armand Duka, a UEFA vice president, said 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 (both Serbia and Albania qualified), 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 also fined both the Albanian and Serbian federations in separate incidents for fans displaying politically motivated banners about neighbouring Kosovo.
Those incidents have not dampened the resolve of the two FAs to co-host, or UEFA’s desire to show “what is possible when people focus on a common objective, inspired by the power of football”.
Both FAs said they want to change the image of their countries on the global stage and attract visitors by portraying them in a new light.
That was made possible when both Belgium and Turkey withdrew their hosting bids.
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