Serbia has issued a strong ultimatum regarding their participation in Euro 2024, demanding that UEFA address the offensive chants and behavior from Croatia and Albania supporters.
Tensions escalated during the recent group stage matches, where chants like “kill, kill, kill the Serbs” were reportedly heard from the stands.
This has deeply unsettled Serbia, prompting them to threaten withdrawal from the tournament unless UEFA takes decisive action.
The incidents marred the atmosphere as Croatia and Albania faced each other in the ongoing European Championship. Offensive songs and gestures were observed among the fans, actions that Serbia finds unacceptable and detrimental to the spirit of the competition.
In a separate incident, a Kosovan journalist was banned for the remainder of Euro 2024 for making provocative gestures towards Serbian supporters during a match against England.
The Serbian FA is now calling for more action, with general secretary Jovan Surbatovic saying: “What happened is scandalous and we will ask UEFA for sanctions, even at the cost of not continuing the competition.
We are sure that they will be punished, because they have already responded to our appeal to remove the so-called journalist from Albania from the championship.
We will request UEFA to punish the federations of both selections. We don’t want to participate in that, but if UEFA doesn’t punish them, we will think about how to proceed.
We were punished for the cases of fishing and our fans behaved much better than the others. One fan was fined for racist abuse and we don’t want it to be attributed to others.
We Serbs are gentlemen and we have an open heart, so I appeal to the fans to remain gentlemen.”
Serbia faced a challenging start in Group C of Euro 2024, encountering a tight 1-0 loss against England. The decisive goal came from Jude Bellingham, the celebrated Real Madrid player, securing victory for his team.
Serbia’s upcoming match is scheduled for Thursday at the Allianz Arena in Munich, where they will clash against Slovenia in their next fixture.