Politics in the stadium, episode 6.765. The Romania-Kosovo match, played on Friday in Bucharest as part of matchday 5 of the Nations Leaguewas not to be. Just as the match was about to end 0-0, chants of “Serbia, Serbia” broke out in the stands in the 93rd minute.
In view of the historical Kosovo-Serbiathese songs have grown Edon Zhegrova from Lille and his team-mates to leave the pitch in injury time, not without a clash with Romanian players. The authorities then decided to stop the game for good. L’UEFA said on its official website that the match had been “stopped” and that the remaining minutes of play would not be played.
Flags bringing Romania and Serbia together
The European body adds that it “will communicate further information in due course”. Prior to the match, Romania were top of Group 2 of League C with 12 points, ahead of Kosovo (9 points). Serbia has never recognized the independence of its former province of Kosovo in 2008, and has maintained so-called “parallel” institutions in Serbian areas, from schools to hospitals and pension funds.
Recent estimates put the number of Serbs living in Kosovo at around 100,000, a figure that is impossible to verify as the population of Kosovo is very small. Serbs boycotted the latest census. Romania does not recognize Kosovo’s independence either. This incident was accompanied on Friday by flags mixing the colors of Romania and Serbia being waved in the stands.