“It has been a long time since such an insult to a nation has been seen at sporting events with cries that (its citizens) should be killed,” the Federation of Serbia says in a statement.
The Serbian Federation has threatened to leave the European Championship after They felt offended by the songs from the fans that were reportedly heard during the match between Albania and Croatia, a match that ended in a draw (2-2) in Hamburg on Wednesday.
Serbia played its second group stage match against Slovenia on Thursday afternoon in Munich and tied 1-1. Serbia’s third and potentially final match It will be on Tuesday against Denmark.
“What happened It is scandalous and we will ask UEFA to impose sanctionseven at the cost of not continuing in the competition,” said Serbian Football Federation Secretary General Jovan Surbatovic.
“We will ask UEFA to punish the federations of both teams. We do not want to participate in that, but if UEFA does not punish them, we will think about how to proceed,” he added.
“Disgraceful racist behavior”
In a separate statement on Thursday, the Serbian Football Federation condemned “disgraceful racist behavior” of the Albanian and Croatian fans and said that the match should have been suspended as soon as the chanting began.
“It has been a long time since such an insult to a nation has been seen in sporting events with cries that (its citizens) they should be killed“adds the statement.
UEFA did not respond to requests for comment about threats from Serbia. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin was with Serbian officials in Munich for the match against his home country, Slovenia.
UEFA tournament rules for Euro 2024 They demand sanctions against teams that refuse to playand a federation that is “responsible for a match not taking place or not being played in its entirety loses all rights to receive payments from UEFA.”
More than nine million euros at stake
Serbia will receive at least 9.25 million euros of a tournament that has a prize fund of 331 million euros, paid for by UEFA’s revenue from broadcast and sponsorship deals, as well as ticket sales. The Federation of Serbia would also be obliged to pay compensation and face new disciplinary measures if he leaves the competition.
The animosity between Croatian and Albanian fans towards Serbians, and vice versa, dates back to the wars of the 90s in the Balkans. Serbian fans are famous for their chants against Croats and Albanians, as well as for their racist chants and vocal support for the war criminals responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people during the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
UEFA fined the Albanian and Serbian federations 10,000 euros each after their first group matches because their fans carried banners with nationalist maps.
A question of territory
Each federation is responsible for the conduct of its fans, and UEFA accused Serbia and Albania of “transmit provocative messages not suitable for a sporting event“.
Albania fans displayed a banner with a map of their country extending its borders into the territory of neighboring countries during Saturday’s match when Albania lost (2-1) against Italy in Dortmund.
A Serbian fans banner included the territory of Kosovo, a former Serbian province that declared its independence in 2008and a motto with “don’t give up”, in the defeat (1-0) against England in Gelsenkirchen.
UEFA also launched an investigation into complaints of monkey chants aimed at English players during the match.
