Albanian football aims for positive political message by joining forces with Serbia to bid for Under-21 Euro

GENEVA — A joint bid by Albania and Serbia to host a tournament is an unlikely project in European football and politics.

Football federations from neighboring Balkan countries have surprisingly united to try to persuade UEFA to award them the European Men’s Under-21 Championship in 2027, in a vote expected in December.

Just under 10 years have passed since the famous drone match in Belgrade, and new memories of it have fueled opposition to the 2027 bid from some supporters as well as that evening’s Albanian captain .

A drone carrying an Albanian nationalist flag caused chaos when it flew over the stadium to pitch level as Serbia hosted Albania in a Euro 2016 qualifying match in October 2014.

Clashes between players which then brought Serbian fans onto the pitch forced the match to be abandoned. The result was not decided until nine months later by a Swiss court.

Historical tensions have been exacerbated by conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s and especially since 2008, when the ethnic Albanian majority declared independence for the former Serbian province of Kosovo. Serbia refuses to recognize this independence and considers Kosovo to be the cradle of its state and its Orthodox Christian religion.

With this state of affairs, Serbia and Albania – who have both qualified for Euro 2024 next month in Germany – hope to host one of UEFA’s biggest tournaments together.

“In reality, it is a 100% football project,” Albanian football federation president Armand Duka told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “It’s actually a really good political message that we can get across.” The history between Serbia and Albania is well known.

There was resistance. This month, a group of national team supporters daubed red paint on the fences of the federation’s offices and attached images of historic conflicts with Serbia.

The group “Red and Black Fans” said that Albania has enough neighbors, so “why are we crossing Kosovo to help Serbia?”

“We have had some negative reactions from fans, mainly, and some interest groups, but not from the Albanian government,” Duka told the AP.

A joint bid for the 16-team tournament was not originally planned and Kosovo was not a viable option as it only has one UEFA-level stadium with just 14,000 seats. Albania and Serbia first applied separately to UEFA in a competition that also includes Belgium and Turkey.

Duka acknowledged that co-hosting gives Albania a better chance of winning and means offering only four stadiums instead of eight for the entire tournament.

The most notable venue in Tirana is the new national stadium, the 22,000-seat Arena Kombëtare. It opened in 2019 and hosted the first Europa Conference League final two years ago.

“Maybe 10 years ago it was unthinkable that we would have the opportunity to bid,” Duka said through a translator.

Albania also has more influence within UEFA. Duka was elected to the UEFA executive committee in 2019 and was recently promoted to vice-president.

On the field, the Albanian selection made up of several Kosovo Albanians is now preparing for a second men’s Euro in eight years. She comes at the top of a qualifying group ahead of the Czech Republic and Poland.

The Euro 2016 debut was made easier by the final verdict in the drone affair which propelled Albania up the qualifying group standings above third-placed Denmark.

Judges at the Court of Arbitration for Sport blamed Serbian organizers for the incompleteness of the match in Belgrade and overturned UEFA’s decision that Serbia had won by default. The 3-0 victory was awarded to Albania.

Albania’s 2016 captain, Lorik Cana – who protected the Serbian players’ unfurled flag by drone – is not a fan of the co-hosting plan.

“This is not the right approach, for me,” said Cana, born in Kosovo. “Without overcoming certain processes of normalization of relations, it would be difficult to organize joint events despite the good will of the federation.”

A few weeks after the drone game, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s visit to Belgrade was the first by its head of government to Serbia in 68 years.

Both countries have applied to become members of the European Union and have started negotiations with Brussels. Albania is a NATO member while Serbia is still on the waiting list.

“I don’t expect any negative reactions from the Kosovo government,” Duka said. “The injury is still a little fresh, it’s only 25 years old. So I understand a certain reaction.

“But we have to go beyond that, look forward and have a better future. »

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Semini reported from Tirana, Albania

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AP Football: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer