The Kosovo Football Federation (FFK) has announced its intention to lodge formal complaints with both the European Football Association (UEFA) and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in response to alleged infractions during their recent match against Romania.
In Bucharest, the football match pitting the Romanian national team against Kosovo was marred by a 50-minute interruption on September 12, prompted by the display of a banner reading “Kosovo is Serbia” by some fans.
According to FFK, these actions by fans of the Romanian national team constituted hate speech and cast a negative light on the integrity of the football match.
FFK acted swiftly in response to calls from nationalist fans, demanding that the game be suspended until all offensive banners and hate-driven chants against Kosovo were removed. This request was approved by the match delegate, and the match only resumed once all inflammatory banners and chants ceased.
FFK further stated that it has formally requested UEFA to thoroughly document all violations that occurred during the match. Additionally, FFK has submitted a request to UEFA’s disciplinary committee, urging the adoption of appropriate measures against the nationalist chants, banners, and hate speech displayed by Romanian national team fans.
UEFA’s website reported on September 13 that the Romania-Kosovo match had been halted for a full 50 minutes due to “discriminatory behavior”.
Play resumed with a warning from the UEFA delegation to the organizers, emphasizing the prohibition of any further discriminatory chants.
The match, which took place on Tuesday and ended with a 2-0 victory for Romania, was a qualifying game for Euro 2024.
It’s noteworthy that Romania is one of five European Union member countries – Spain, Cyprus, Greece, and Slovakia being the others – that do not officially recognize Kosovo’s sovereignty.
Historically, Kosovo has participated in matches against other national teams whose countries do not acknowledge its independence. Greece and Cyprus, for instance, have not considered this a contentious issue. In one instance, a match against Ukraine was relocated to Poland.
Last year, the Spanish Football Federation initially expressed reluctance to allow the Kosovo team to compete under their national flag. However, the match ultimately proceeded without any significant disruptions.
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