Kosovo are preparing an appeal to the court of arbitration for sport after Uefa handed them a 3-0 defeat for walking off the field during Friday’s Nations League tie against Romania in Bucharest, which was eventually abandoned when they elected not to return.
Kosovo left the pitch during second-half stoppage time upon hearing chants of “Serbia” from the home crowd. The match was suspended and when it was clear they would refuse to resume proceedings were drawn to a halt.
Uefa has judged they in effect forfeited the game in a ruling that will attract significant attention given the problems around Serbia-related chanting in European stadiums. Although Romania were given a win that ensured a 100% record in their Group C2 campaign, they were fined about €128,000 (£107,000). More damagingly, they will play their next home match behind closed doors after Uefa found their fans guilty of xenophobic chants against Hungary during the fixture. A €30,000 fine was imposed for transmitting pro-Serbia messages.
Kosovo’s decision to walk off is understood to have been led by their team, rather than being dictated by the Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK). After the match, the FFK condemned “racist provocations and behaviour” from the crowd – alleging “Kosovo is Serbia” chants were also among those heard – and said it had warned Uefa such occurrences were possible.
Now they plan to take their case to sport’s highest legal authority in a bid to overturn Uefa’s decision. “We are aware Uefa has taken this seriously and we appreciate it, but we cannot feel happy or that justice is in place,” Bajram Shala, the Kosovo team manager, told the Guardian.
“It is true that we left the field but the reason we were forced to do it should be taken into consideration. Our players felt emotionally hurt and the pride of representing the national team and their country was hurt. We think it was a reasonable way to show that racist chants cannot take place at football matches and it was why our team was forced to leave the pitch. We think Uefa should treat this differently. We are keen to appeal this decision and look forward to justice being served.”
The Romanian Football Federation had accused Kosovo of a premeditated decision to leave the pitch and acting provocatively. Romania’s other fines were handed down for a series of further crowd offences including throwing of objects, lighting of fireworks, use of a laser pointer, causing a disturbance during the national anthems and blocking public passageways. Romania were also warned for “the improper conduct of its team”, while Kosovo were fined €6,000 for the same reason.
Romania were fined by Uefa last year over pro-Serbia chanting and the display of a banner reading “Kosovo is Serbia” by supporters during a meeting of the sides at the same venue in a Euro 2024 qualifier. Uefa fined Kosovo €61,000 last month for fans’ misconduct during their Nations League tie against Romania in Pristina.
Uefa operates a three-step procedure for the abandonment of games marred by racism, but this does not apply to chants that may be deemed political in nature. “We do not treat this as political,” Shala said. “If you deny the existence of a country it is a clear racist chant.”
It is a complex situation that football shows little sign of being able to navigate effectively. Euro 2024 was peppered with several incidents involving Balkan nations and pro-Serbia chanting, generally in the context of its claim to sovereignty over Kosovo, has become a persistent problem in parts of Europe.
