Euro 2016 qualifier is abandoned following brawl after flag stunt
- 10 years ago
Serb and Albanian supporters are divided over the abandoning of their Euro 2016 football tie following a fight between players after a flag stunt.
The politically sensitive qualifier descended into a melee when a remote controlled mini drone was flown over the stadium carrying a pro-Kosovo flag.
The brother of Albania’s prime minister is said to have been detained on suspicion of instigating the stunt.
One Serbian supporter said, “Shame on them Olsi Rama is I believe some sort of a politician, he should not have done this. I thought sport was supposed to win here, not politics.”
Albanians in the Kosovan capital of Pristina were highly critical of the Serbs supporters who had invaded the pitch.
“They showed themselves how they truly are – a criminal nation. This was a football match and they turned it into a war zone,” commented one Kosovan.
The provocative flag had depicted so -called Greater Albania which covers parts of the Balkans where ethnic Albanians live. Self-declared independent Kosovo is a particular flashpoint.
In 1999 NATO waged a 78-day war to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo by Serbian forces fighting a two-year counter-insurgency. Serbia does not recognise Kosovo as independent.
The politically sensitive qualifier descended into a melee when a remote controlled mini drone was flown over the stadium carrying a pro-Kosovo flag.
The brother of Albania’s prime minister is said to have been detained on suspicion of instigating the stunt.
One Serbian supporter said, “Shame on them Olsi Rama is I believe some sort of a politician, he should not have done this. I thought sport was supposed to win here, not politics.”
Albanians in the Kosovan capital of Pristina were highly critical of the Serbs supporters who had invaded the pitch.
“They showed themselves how they truly are – a criminal nation. This was a football match and they turned it into a war zone,” commented one Kosovan.
The provocative flag had depicted so -called Greater Albania which covers parts of the Balkans where ethnic Albanians live. Self-declared independent Kosovo is a particular flashpoint.
In 1999 NATO waged a 78-day war to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo by Serbian forces fighting a two-year counter-insurgency. Serbia does not recognise Kosovo as independent.