Romania and Kosovo are reporting each other after the match that did not end

The Kosovo Football Federation (FFK) on Saturday denounced the “unacceptable and unsafe atmosphere” that, in its opinion, prevailed in the Nations League match played on Friday by its team against Romania. at the National Stadium in Bucharest (0-0) and was delayed after the 90th minute.

In a statement, FFK highlighted that the suspension of the match was due to “insistent racist and anti-Kosovar chants by Romanian fans.”

The match was delayed due to Kosovar players leaving the locker room in protest against chants of “Serbs, Serbs” by Romanian fans.

The accusations in Kosovo

These events “seriously prejudice the spirit of fair playthe values ​​of football and completely violates the rules and principles of UEFA,” the Kosovo federation said in the note, in which it condemned the behavior of the Romanian fans.

“Chants such as ‘Kosovo is Serbia’ and ‘Serbia, Serbia’, whistling during the national anthem of Kosovo, throwing objects in the stadium and other offensive and provocative actions were present throughout the match, which creates the an unacceptable and unsafe environment for Kosovo players”said the Kosovo organization.

Kosovo has notified UEFA

FFK added that has warned the competent UEFA authorities in writing more than twice about the likelihood of such actions occurring.

Despite the coach’s efforts Franco Foda “To ensure that the match continued (…), the racist behavior continued even during the interruption of the game,” he highlighted.

For this reason, FFK considers that the Kosovo players “made the right choice” to retire in the locker room, in accordance with “UEFA’s anti-racist rules” and to “defend the dignity of the State of Kosovo, as a equal members of UEFA and FIFA”. Kosovo declared itself independent from Serbia in 2008, without Belgrade recognizing its sovereignty to this day.

The Kosovo federation also announces it began to prepare a complaint which he will present to UEFA’s disciplinary bodies.

“We believe that UEFA will act in accordance with its core values ​​and strongly condemn the racist language and other unacceptable actions that took place in this match,” FFK insisted in its statement.

Lpa Romanian argument

The Romanian Football Federation (FRF) also reported on Saturday that it is awaiting UEFA’s decision, although it believes it should rule in its favour.

In his statement, The FRF considers that “the accusations made by the Kosovo side are baseless and we strongly believe that his actions were premeditated.” And he added: “It’s important to highlight that no racist chants During the match, the slogan ‘Kosovo is Serbia’ was not uttered even once”, which is why he considered it unjustified and “regrettable” for the opposing players to leave because the result was not in their favor.

At 0-0, Romania secured first place in its group and mathematically achieved promotion to League B with a day to go by having a 3-point advantage over Kosovo and the particular ‘average’ in its favor since it won in Prishtina 0-3.

In fact the FRF accuses the Kosovo team of “disrespect” and “disrespecting fair play” because the meeting was delayed. In this sense “expresses deep disappointment in the behavior of the delegation of Kosovo and its players during the match.”

The precedent used by Romania

The note also recalls “the decision made by the UEFA Disciplinary Committee regarding a similar incident in a match last year”, according to which the slogan ‘Kosovo is Serbia’ cannot be classified as racist “and, therefore , you cannot activate the three-step method.

On the other hand, the FRF thanked the “almost 50,000 Romanian fans present in the stadium for maintaining a civilized attitude and for refraining, as much as possible, from responding to the provocations of the Kosovo players.”