Albanian player Mirlind Daku banned by UEFA for two Euro 2024 matches after nationalist chants

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Albanian player Mirlind Daku was banned for two matches on Sunday after leading fans in singing nationalist chants at the European Championship, which UEFA said brought discredit to the soccer.

Daku took a megaphone after Albania 2-2 draw against Croatia Wednesday in Hamburg and joined in the slogans against Serbia and North Macedonia.

The incidents and fallout from the match in Hamburg were the most serious involving Balkan politics at a Euros with the largest number of teams from the region playing – and providing a stage for some fans to air their issues.

UEFA said its disciplinary judges found Daku guilty of “failure to respect general principles of conduct, violation of fundamental rules of good conduct, use of sporting events for demonstrations of a non-sporting nature and discrediting on football. .”

UEFA also ordered the Albanian football federation to pay fines totaling 47,250 euros ($50,500) for incidents during the match in which its fans chanted an anti-Serb slogan, apparently “Kill the Serbs “.

The Serbian Football Federation said it leave the tournament if UEFA did not punish the incidents.

On the field, Albania plays a decisive group stage match against Spain on Monday. If Albania progresses, Daku will also miss the round of 16.

Daku later apologized for his actions in a social media post, with UEFA appointing an internal investigator to look into his “alleged inappropriate behavior”.

The 26-year-old striker began playing for Albania last year after using his right under FIFA rules to change his eligibility from Kosovo, the former ethnic Albanian province of Serbia which declared his independence 16 years ago.

UEFA also announced charges against its member federations in Albania and Croatia on Wednesday for “potentially racist and/or discriminatory conduct” by fans.

However, only Albania was fined for “transmitting provocative messages unsuitable for a sporting event”. The Croatian federation was only fined 27,500 euros ($29,400) for fans lighting and throwing fireworks in the stadium.

The Albanian Football Federation, or FSHF, called on fans to be “responsible and avoid incidents and riots.”

“The FSHF invites supporters and football lovers to support the Albanian national team to the end in this magical and historic path to Euro 2024 by demonstrating citizenship and responsibility through correct behavior and respecting the rules and adversaries,” said a press release.

Albania impressed at Euro 2024 in an opening 2-1 defeat against Italy and then in a 2-2 draw against Croatia.

With three national teams from the former Yugoslavia – Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia – as well as neighboring Kosovo Albania, fans showed that their shared history in the brutal Balkan War of the 1990s and the diplomatic problems that followed cannot be easily forgotten.

Nationalist chants increased hostility during Euro 2024, where provocative banners, such as flags with maps, were waved. should bring politics in all 10 stadiums in Germany.

Serbia and Albania were each fined by UEFA after their opening matches for fans “transmitting a provocative message”. It cost them 10,000 euros ($10,700) each for a first offense.

The Serbian supporters’ banner on Kosovo also led to a FIFA lawsuit involving players at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Serbia considers Kosovo the cradle of its state and its Orthodox Christian religion, and is one of many European countries that does not recognize its independence.

In Germany last week, a television journalist from Kosovo had his accreditation revoked by UEFA after he made the Albanian eagle gesture with both hands while broadcasting on the pitch in front of Serbian fans.

The Balkans’ entries for Euro 2024 could have been five if Bosnia and Herzegovina had made it through the qualifying playoffs in March won by Ukraine.

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, a Slovenian lawyer who grew up in the former Yugoslavia, said while attending Serbia’s decisive qualifying match in November that he would “certainly like” as many possible teams from the region qualify.

UEFA has a decision to make this year which could be very symbolic on the capacity of this sport to unite, at a time when it is blocking any confrontation of Kosovo teams against Serbian opponents during the draws for its competitions. or Bosnians for security reasons.

THE Albanian and Serbian football federations join forcesdespite the opposition of many supporters, with the aim of co-organizing the Under-21 Euro in 2027. The other candidates are Belgium and Turkey.

UEFA’s executive committee, which includes an Albanian vice-president, Armand Duka, is expected to vote on the 2027 host in December.

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Associated Press writes that Llazar Semini in Tirana, Albania, contributed to this report.

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AP Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024