Flag with Kosovo in Serbia puts football on second

A photo was shown on social networks, supposedly conducted in the Serbian football room prior to the match against Brazil on November 26th, featuring the message “has no handover” on a map of Serbia, which includes Kosovo.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but official Belgrade does not recognise its independence.

The exact question is who put that flag, if that's not what the players have done. Maybe they did and if they did, then they should say. Perhaps the most important question is that at whose order the flag was posted”, Bursac says.

He, after commenting on this event on Twitter, with the assessment that a nationalist message was delivered, has received reproach and threats.

What happened?

On November 26th, the FIFA disciplinary Commission (The International Association of Football Associations) launched procedures against Serbia's Football Federation (FFS) due to the flag displayed in their dressing room, ahead of the match between Brazil and Serbia, the report said.

FIFA cited part of its disciplinary code that deals with improper conduct, including “offensive diseases, signs or languages” and “utilisation of a sports event for messages of unportive nature”.

Official Belgrade against FIFA decision

Foreign Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic has spoken on behalf of Serbia's officials.

He stated that Serbia, as a state, cannot react to the fact that FIFA has initiated procedures against Serbia's national, because it is a sports organisation, but has praised the move as hypocrisy.

This is just about hypocrisy. Nobody speaks and nobody wants football players to deal with politics, but what's offensive to what someone says is no surrender of”, Dacic told TV Prva on November 27th.

He said Serbia is an internationally recognised UN member state with Kosovo as part of Serbia.

“What is not in line with international law, and what is offensive? This is an indication that there are no principles, but there are double standards. They would never punish Ukraine if Donbas was ours and Krimeta is ours. Where's the difference?

Serbia's Football Federation Shuts Down

Serbia's Football Federation, so far, has not issued any statements to the flag in the dressing rooms, nor for warning of the procedure concerning the FIFA issue.

This federation didn't answer the REL's questions on the matter.

The questions of foreign journalists remain at press conferences in Qatar, which have been held by the individual players and coach of Serbia's representative.

Thus, at the conference held on November 26th, when the players present were asked why they decided to hang the flag on which Kosovo had appeared as part of Serbia, the representative of the Federation of Football of Serbia did not allow answers, saying the topic was exclusively the subsequent match with Cameroon's representative.

Even Serbian coach Dragan Stojkovic Pics, at the press conference the following day, has declined to answer the question of the FIFA investigation.

Mirko Poledica, chairman of Serbia's Professional Football Association “Independence” (“Nezavisnost”), tells Radio Free Europe that this can eventually be discussed when the World Cup ends, but that now the emphasis should focus on football.

I don't know who hung that flag, I don't know if it was made by any of the players, I don't know it was made by any official”, he points out.

He says that in past years, in similar cases, FIFA has not punished teams with drastic sentences.

“Experience has shown us that FIFA, in such situations, if it issues convictions, are mainly of financial nature”, he adds.

Kosovo Football Federation has called for reaction

The Kosovo Football Federation (FFK) has welcomed the launch of the disciplinary procedure initiated by FIFA.

<x0) Twitter NFF, November 27.

Clearly, this federation filed complaints at FIFA.

Meanwhile, Kosovo Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Hajrula Ceku has announced on Facebook that in the past two days, he has received hundreds of insulting and threatening messages from Serbia.

Following the threats Ceku has received, it has written that Serbia's democratisation and separation from Russian control are preconditions for security and progress in the Western Balkans.

“Features directed at my family and murder threats are the following indications that Serbian chauvinism is the greatest risk to peace in our region”, Ceku wrote on November 27th.

A photo of the flag with the message “has no surrender” in the Serbian language became viral on social networks when it was distributed from Ceku.

“Disgraced readings from Serbia's dressing room, which display hate messages, xenophobia and genocide messages to Kosovo, using the World Cup platform at football”, wrote Ceku on Twitter on November 25th, attaching the picture.

He later added that Kosovo expects concrete action from FIFA, given that the Kosovo Football Federation (FFK) is a full member of FIFA and UEFA.
Kosovo became a member of U EFA and FIFA in 2016, eight years after the country declared independence from Serbia, which official Belgrade still denies.

Support for this, as well as for blocking Kosovo's international membership in organisations, Serbia has, among other things, from Russia.

Football as Side Harm

Marko Milosavljevic from the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) commenting on REL defines the event with the flag in Serbia's national dressing room as “the classic nationalist provocation, which is the product of daily poisoning”.

He adds that this event was not isolated from other examples of the past week. In this context, the Serbian diplomatic leader's statement of FIFA's response, he calls it “cinic and hypocritical”.

He explains this with the fact that Serbia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not issued any statements, nor has it reacted to the scarf held by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, when he met with one of Hungary's football representative players.

“This is also a kind of call for new territorial claims by Greater Hungary”, Milosavljevic says.

In a fan's scarf with a map of the so-called “Great Hungary”, which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Vojvodina has been carrying as part of that country.

Orban has worn that scarf in a video posted on November 21st in his Instagram account, after meeting Hungarian football player Balaz Dzudzsak.

“We remain dependent on these examples, on how an autocratic alliance goes hand-hand with territorial claims, meanwhile, football is in some way against the side”, Milosavljevic says.

In addition to the Hungarian Prime Minister Milosavljevic's tifo scarf, Milosavljevic recalls the provocation of several Croatian fans on November 27th, whose goal was the goal of Canada and the Red Star (Crvena Zozda) of Belgrade, Milan Borjan, during the match between Croatia and Canada.

You can see on social networks the banners bearing the inscription fans: “Kin 95 ʹ nothing goes [like] Boryan”. It's also written on that banner “John Deere”.

Nothing goes like John Deere” is the slogan of the renowned tractor manufacturer. Meanwhile, Boryan, at the age of eight, had been part of the tractor column of refugees leaving Knini for Serbia, while the action was under way “Storm (Oluja) during the war in Croatia in 1995.

The Relationship That Affects Sports

Another flag drew much public attention when, in October 2014, during the football match between Serbia and Albania, a fear appeared on Partizan Stadium in Belgrade bearing the flag of so-called Greater Albania.

At that moment a conflict occurred between the two squad players, and then some fans entered the field and attacked guest football players, after which Albanian players came out of the field and refused to continue the game.

Since Kosovo's declaration of independence on February 17th 2008, the Serbian side has repeatedly prevented Kosovo athletes from participating in international events held in Serbia.

In October 2021, the Kosovo National Boxing was not allowed to enter Serbia. Therefore, in May 2018, following two unsuccessful efforts to cross the border with Serbia, Kosovo's karate representative gave up attending the European Karate Championship in Novi Sad.

In March 2018, the European Handball Federation suspended Serbia's handball players from qualifying for the World Championship after Belgrade cancelled a planned match between the women's handball teams of Serbia and Kosovo.

In October 2019, Kosovo also banned the entry of Red Star (Crvena Ziesda) players and leaders to play Serbia's quarterfinals match against KF Trepca in Zvecan, north of Kosovo.

Then Kosovo Football Federation Secretary General Erol Salihu said then about REL that playing an official match of Serbian clubs on Kosovo territory is pure provocation and violation of U statute EFA and FIFA.

Kosovo athletes face bans and problems even in countries of the European Union that have not recognised Kosovo.

Greek authorities did not allow the karate team from Kosovo to enter the country, which travelled to the Mediterranean Championship of Karate for Kadesh in the town of Limassol of Cyprus.

Spain's Football Federation called Kosovo <x0 potential” when announcing Spain's first qualifying matches for the World Cup in the group, France24 portal reported.

In 2018, Spain also banned Kosovo's karateists from competing in the World Championship under its national flag. Kosovo athletes were forced to keep the initials of the Federation of Karate of Kosovo in the fanella.