Foot & Soccer Soccer Match Reports, Football News
June 21 – The complex and fever-pitch intensity and rivalry among the various Balkan neighbours at Euro 2024 continues to take centre stage with UEFA now opening an investigation into Serbian claims that fans of Albania and Croatia chanted ‘kill, kill, kill the Serb’ during their Group B game on Wednesday.
In a statement released late on Thursday, European football’s governing body said an ethics and disciplinary inspector had been appointed “to conduct an investigation regarding potential racist and/or discriminatory conduct” by supporters during the 2-2 draw in Hamburg.
It added that the inspector would also investigate the “alleged inappropriate behaviour” of Albania forward Mirland Daku.
Albania’s late equaliser led to wild celebrations after the game and the 26-year-old is alleged to have shouted ‘f*** Macedonia” and “f*** Serbs’ into a megaphone.
A few hours later, the North Macedonian FA said they would lodge a complaint with UEFA and urged the player to apologise.
Daku, who plays for Russian club side Rubin Kazan, previously featured for Kosovo before switching to Albania in 2023.
UEFA’s investigation into the two incidents follows a threat from the Football Association of Serbia (FSS) that it would consider quitting Euro 2024 if the governing body failed to punish their Albanian and Croatian counterparts.
The formal request for sanctions from the FSS referred to the “shameful joint chanting by fans of both teams, which was directed against the Serbian nation as a whole”, not from a few individuals “but a large number of fans of these teams”.
In relation to the ‘kill the Serb’ chant, FSS asked UEFA why it did not implement the three-step procedure for tackling racist incidents inside stadiums.
Under this rule, which has been in place since 2009, match officials can halt play to address racist behaviour through a public announcement. If this fails, the referee can take the players off the pitch for up to 10…
Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/06/21/uefa-opens-multiple-investigations-balkan-nationalist-fervour-boils/
Author : Paul Nicholson
Publish date : 2024-06-21 09:11:49
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