Anger over UEFA decision as Tirana prepares appeal

TIRANA, Oct. 27 – Albania and Serbia have received tough sanctions from UEFA, as the European soccer body appeared set on punishing both Balkan rivals for the on-field violence.
Serb fans hurled hate chants, hard objects and fireworks during the game the European Championship qualifier in Belgrade on Oct. 14, before its was abandoned after an Albanian banner being flown by a drone over the stadium led to a brawl and pitch invasion by the Serb fans.
UEFA ruled that Albania forfeited the match because its players refused to return to the pitch amid the disorder. UEFA’s disciplinary body awarded Serbia a 3-0 win, but docked the three points gained by a win.
Serbia was also ordered to play its next two Euro 2016 qualifiers behind closed doors without fans, starting with next month’s game against Denmark, as a result of crowd disturbances and fireworks and missiles that were set off during the Albania game.
The Serbian and Albanian federations were each fined 100,000 Swiss Francs ($105,000).
UEFA’s verdict was harshly criticized in Tirana.
The Albanians expected the game to be awarded to them as a victory and appealed the decision.
Albanian Football Federation President Armand Duka said that,”I am disillusioned because we were claiming a legal verdict from UEFA.” He added: “I do not understand what precedent this may bring about, when a squad physically assaults the opponent players in the pitch. I do not know if there is a greater scandal than this. … The match could not go on,” he said, adding “No doubt we will win this battle.”
“I am very disillusioned from the decision of the judiciary today,” said Albanian team coach, Italian Giovanni de Biasi. “They took away from us what we deserved on the pitch. What should happen now?”
Albanian Federation lawyer Artan Hajdari said the decision was strange.
“We shall attack it from the juridical point of view. We shall appeal. The legal battle continues. Our arguments are very strong,” he said.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama reacted in his Twitter page urging the Albanian Football Federation “to open a legal battle to the end.”
“There was no justice today on what happened at the Belgrade stadium,” he wrote.
Bardhyl Minxhozi, a member of the Albanian Football Federation Executive Committee, said they were disappointed from the decision because “the Albanian team didn’t make any mistake to be punished in that way.”
“We think that the decision is political rather than sports-related,” he said.
Minxhozi also said that he was suprised the UEFA decision did not mention the hate calls and shouts “Kil, Kill Albanians” by the Serbian fans, and the violence shown on the pitch which “showed very clearly that the organization from the Serbian federation was quite insufficient to take measures for a normal match.”
“UEFA has set an unfair equality sign between the racist aggression and physical violence with the psychological and physical incapability to continue the match,” the Albanian official said.
The UEFA ruling has been the story of the week in the Albanian media, with all television stations and social media pages covered with angry reactions.
Strong denouncing reactions have also come from neighbouring Kosovo, where many of the Albanian national team players come from.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama tried to calm people down, saying that though he was “as angry as them, anger should not be allowed to burn out our circuit of reasoning.”
“There is only one road for Albania on today’s decision: that which is being followed by the Albanian Football Federation (FSHF), continuation of the battle to get justice in the other levels of judgment,” Rama said.
The FSHF also issued a statement denouncing the UEFA ruling as “not acceptable” for not taking into account “the extremely violent atmosphere and events that irremediably affected the football match.”
“It is our firm belief that there are no proper grounds and legal reasoning that should lead to such a decision. The ruling is clearly in-proportional to the eventual alleged offences,” it said.
The federation also tried to turn down speculation on the return to the pitch, saying “the Albanian players were never notified that the official had decided to resume the match. This position is a product of pure fantasy. The Albanian team never refused the resume of the match.”
Players were also quick to react.
“This is not justice,” wrote Albania’s national team captain Lorik Cana in his Facebook page.
This is the latest chapter in decades of friction between Serbia and Albania, mainly over Kosovo, a former ethnic Albanian-dominated Serbian province that declared independence in 2008. Serbia has never accepted Kosovo’s independence.
In Albania’s first match in Belgrade since 1967, the visiting national anthem was loudly jeered by Serbian fans and derogatory chants were heard throughout. Serbian supporters also threw flares and other objects at Albanian players.
During the game, a banner showing a so-called map of “greater Albania” including parts of Greece, Macedonia and Serbia was flown in by drone. A Serbia player pulled the banner down, while Albanian players tried to protect it. Fans hurled broken seats and other objects, and attacked Albanian players, who fled to the dressing room and refused to return.
Before the match Rama had said that international politics “cannot be driven by football games.”
Rama’s visit to Belgrade Oct. 22 was postponed to Nov. 10. The dispute quickly turned into a diplomatic spat, with Serbia accusing Albania of a deliberate provocation, while Tirana countered that its players had been insulted and attacked.
Several ethnic Albanian businesses in Serbia were damaged after the game.