Sports
Serbia will host Albania for the first time in over a decade after their last bump into ended with insurrection police surrounding the pitch and the game being called off in the first half.
The 2 nations have been drawn together in World Cup qualifying Community K alongside England, Latvia and Andorra.
UEFA has a rapid listing of ‘prohibited clashes’ between nations that cannot be drawn together for political reasons. For this draw, that meant Belarus may perhaps not draw Ukraine, Gibraltar may perhaps not draw Spain, and Kosovo would no longer be paired with either Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Serbia and Albania drawn together ten years after brawl that led to match abandonment
On the alternative hand, Serbia and Albania are no longer part of that listing despite a long, advanced and largely sophisticated relationship after decades of political tensions.
Things came to a head on the football pitch in a Euro 2016 qualifier in 2014 after a drone flew over the pitch carrying a flag featuring Albanian national symbols. A melee between the two gadgets of players began after Serbia defender Stefan Mitrovic leapt to bring down the flag.
A lot of Serbian supporters entered the pitch during the tussle, which became it into a brawl in which four Albanian players suffered minor injuries. Albania also claimed their players had been attacked by stewards and insurrection police, which Serbian officials denied.
That led to the game being suspended by English referee Martin Atkinson and insurrection police being deployed around the perimeter of the pitch.
Half an hour later, the game was abandoned at 0-0, with UEFA initially awarding a 3-0 forfeit victory to Serbia but also docking them three points and imposing a two-game present to play behind closed doors. All facets had been fined €100,000.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport therefore reversed the walkover win on appeal, awarding the 3-0 win to Albania instead. The relaxation of UEFA’s punishments had been upheld.
Serbian fans had been denied permission to attend the reverse fixture in Albania the following year.
Serbia ran out 2-0 winners thanks to a pair of injury time goals, but the proved immaterial to both facets as Albania claimed automatic qualification for Euro 2016 while Serbia fell wanting even making the play-offs.
The exact dates for the 2026 World Cup qualification games are yet to be announced, but qualifying games will possible be played in March, June, September, October and November 2025.
