Serbia's campaign has taken a turn for the worse. It's not the performances that are being talked about but the off field behaviour of opposing fans. It's been reported that the Serbian team have been 'attacked' with verbal remarks.
The Football Association of Serbia has written to the UEFA Secretary General following a chant reportedly heard at Euro 2024 matches between Croatia and Albania on Wednesday in Hamburg.
In the letter to UEFA General Secretary, Theodore Theodoridis, on Thursday, the assocation described it as, "shameful joint chanting by fans of both national teams, which was directed against the Serbian nation as a whole." The chant, the Serbian association claimed, was "kill, kill, kill the Serb." This is in reference to the historical animosity between the nations dating back to the Balkan conflicts of the 1990's and World War II atrocities. Albania has also faced disciplinary actions, receiving a fine for displaying a map with extended borders during their first match against Italy, which UEFA deemed inappropriate for a sports event.
The General Secretary of the Football Association of Serbia, Jovan Šurbatović, also threatened to pull the Serbia team out of the tournament, according to Serbia state broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS/PTC), in comments published on Wednesday evening.
Šurbatović said, "What happened is scandalous and we will ask UEFA for sanctions, even if it means not continuing the competition" (as per RTS). Serbia have consequently threatened to pull out of Euro 2024 over chanting between Croatia and Albania fans on Wednesday.
Šurbatović said that he was "sure they will be punished" following UEFA's decision on Wednesday to cancel the credentials of Kosovar journalist, Arlind Sadiku.
Sadiku made a nationalist double-handed eagle gesture towards Serbia fans during the game against England. The gesture mimics the eagle on Albania's national flag, which can inflame tensions between Serbian nationalists and ethnic Albanians, who make up the vast majority of Kosovo's population.
"We will demand from UEFA to punish the federations of both selections," Šurbatović added. We do not want to participate in that but if UEFA does not punish them, we will think how will we proceed."
Serbia were fined £12,250 after fans threw objects during the England match. Serbia and Albania were also fined as fans from both countries displayed banners of nationalist maps, external in their opening matches.
Šurbatović said, "We were punished for isolated cases and our fans behaved much better than the others. One fan was punished for racist insults and we don't want it to be attributed to others. We Serbs are gentlemen and we have an open heart, so I appeal to the fans to remain gentlemen."
Speaking after their side's 1-1 draw against Slovenia on Thursday in Munich, Serbian fans were conflicted over their FA's statement. "We shouldn't mix politics and sport," Bico Kruc said, while Julian Dragotinovic-Potkovsk added, "Everybody should do what they want. We have our flag, we have our colours, what the other ones do we don't care about."
On Thursday, UEFA said it had appointed an inspector, "to conduct an investigation regarding potential racist and/or discriminatory conduct by supporters" during Croatia’s game against Albania.
UEFA later confirmed disciplinary proceedings have been opened against the Croatian and Albanian FAs to investigate the "potential racist and/or discriminatory conduct by supporters" during the match.
It added that it was also investigating "alleged inappropriate behaviour" of Albania forward Mirlind Daku, who was seen to address supporters through a megaphone after the game.
Serbia would likely be handed a huge fine if they did walk away from the tournament. UEFA previously handed out a $165,000 (€150,000) fine to Croatia’s football federation for offensive chants and disorder by fans at the Nations League Finals in 2023. They said it's disciplinary panel combined incidents during games against the Netherlands and Spain at the tournament.
If Serbia do withdraw, it would see their final group stage match against Denmark fall through (as per The Sun). Per UEFA laws, Denmark would be handed an automatic 3-0 victory and Serbia would also be heavily fined.
However, this would leave an uneven number of teams in the competition, potentially requiring a new schedule for the tournament. Teams in Serbia's group may also be given extra time to rest without the need to play an extra match. As England have already played the Serbs, this would not apply to them.
Serbia played it's second Group C match in Euro 2024 against Slovenia earlier on Thursday, drawing 1-1 to keep alive it's chances of qualifying for Euro 2024’s knockout stages.
What has occured is a complete disgrace. There shouldn't be room for actions of this nature in sport. I would stand by the possible withdrawl of the team. I believe in taking a stand whenever an injustice or inappropriate action has taken place. To me, it serves as an example that actions such as these will not be taken lightly and serious repricussions should take place if they do occur.