November 27 – FIFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Serbia for hanging a political banner in their dressing room at the World Cup about neighbouring independent state Kosovo.
The banner with the message “we do not surrender” in Serbian went viral on social media, showing a map of Serbia that included the territory of its former province, which has been an independent state for nearly 15 years.
Kosovo’s FA immediately complained to FIFA with its sports minister, Harjulla Ceku, describing the image as using the World Cup to promote “hateful, xenophobic and genocidal messages.”
“Such acts of chauvinism have no place in a sports event, and even less inside the facilities where the biggest event of world football takes place, therefore FFK, as an equal member with all other members of FIFA, demands from this institution to undertake sanctioning measures against actions that incite hatred between peoples and are against human values.”
“It is unacceptable for this act to pass in silence, therefore we strongly request that FIFA strictly implement its rules and punish the football federation of Serbia for this aggressive action and against the values that football conveys.”
FIFA cited a section of its disciplinary code that covers misconduct including “offensive gestures, signs or language” and “using a sports event for demonstrations of a non-sporting nature.”
FIFA gave no timetable for a verdict, though Serbia next plays today (Monday) against Cameroon.
Since Kosovo was made a member of FIFA and UEFA in 2016, UEFA has ensured for security reasons that its national teams are not drawn with Serbia or Bosnia-Herzegovina in qualifying groups for the World Cup and European Championship.
The issue of Kosovo’s independence sparked a 1998-99 war in which about 13,000 people died. Serbia launched a brutal crackdown to curb a separatist rebellion by the territory’s ethnic Albanians.
Kosovo unilaterally broke away from Serbia in 2008. The Serbian government has refused to recognise Kosovo as an independent country – unlike most of the United Nations.
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