Chants of “Serbia, Serbia” during the Kosovo anthem, a banner stating that “Kosovo is Serbia”… The match between Romania and Kosovo, counting for the Euro 2024 qualifiers, Tuesday evening in Bucharest, took a very political turn. The reason ? Romania is one of five European Union countries (along with Spain, Greece, Slovakia and Cyprus) that does not recognize Kosovo as an independent country.
The Romanian ultras therefore showed their anger at the start of the match with this banner and hostile chants, causing the match to be stopped after just over twenty minutes of play. French referee Willy Delajod sent the two teams to the locker room, and the Kosovar took the opportunity to mime the eagle with his hands, symbol of Albania, a country close to Kosovo, towards the Romanian supporters.
Supporters identified by the police
The meeting was able to resume after a fifty-minute interruption, with the threat of a permanent stoppage if a new incident occurred. During this stop, the police were deployed in front of the Romanian ultras’ turnaround. According to local media, at the end of the meeting, the group of supporters who had displayed the banner hostile to Kosovo was surrounded by riot police, and all its members were identified.
For the record, Romania won this meeting (2-0), thanks to goals from Stanciu and Mihaila at the very end of the match. The Romanians are second in Group I, in a good position to qualify for Euro 2024. The Kosovars are penultimate in the group.