UEFA has decided to award Romania with an automatic 3-0 win after Kosovo players walked off the field in their Nations League clash last week and accused the home supporters of ‘discriminatory’ behaviour.
The visiting team left the pitch in the 93rd minute of their trip to Bucharest on Friday after opposition fans reportedly chanted about Serbia – who refuse to recognise Kosovo’s independence.
UEFA did not explain why the game had been cut short but Kosovo players were reportedly upset at hearing the pro-Serbian slogans – with riot police dividing them from the stands.
While the Romanian stars remained on the pitch in -2C temperatures, Kosovo’s players reportedly ate pizza in the away dressing room and refused to come back out. The match was eventually abandoned an hour after it was stopped with the score at 0-0.
Now European football’s governing body has handed the home team a walkover following the incident, while making no mention of the alleged chants about Serbia.
The 3-0 result secures Romania’s first-place finish in the group and promotion to League B in the competition, while it leaves Kosovo facing a play-off to earn their spot in League B.
Romania have been handed a 3-0 win after Kosovo players walked off the pitch early after alleging ‘discrimnatory’ chants
Kosovo players were reportedly unhappy with Serbia chants, something UEFA does not mention in their statement
A pitch invader took advantage of the chaos and was chased across the pitch by stewards. Romania will play their next match behind closed doors and were handed a £106,000 fine
The group winners will play their next international match behind closed doors due to what UEFA describes as ‘racist and/or discriminatory behaviour of its supporters’ but the body only refers to anti-Hungarian chants in its statement not the chants alleged by Kosovo on Friday.
Romania have also been slapped with a £41,600 fine for the same charge which, along with fines for ‘transmitting provocative political messages not fit for a sports event’, throwing objects, lighting fireworks, using laser pointers, causing disruption during the national anthems and blocking public passageways, takes their total bill to £106,000.
Kosovo, meanwhile, received a fine of their own worth £5,000 for getting more than five yellow cards in the match, a charge Romania only got a warning for.
After the match, the Kosovo Football Federation (FFK) said: ‘Cries such as “Kosovo is Serbia” and “Serbia, Serbia”, whistling during the singing of the national anthem of Kosovo, throwing hard objects … and other offensive and provocative actions were present throughout the match, creating an unacceptable atmosphere not safe for our players.
‘FFK had warned the relevant UEFA bodies more than twice in writing about the possibility of such actions, once a few days before the match and then a few minutes before it started.
‘Despite these warnings, the Romanian fans continued with irresponsible and discriminatory behaviour, forcing the Kosovo national team to leave the field due to the lack of safety and dignity.
‘For all these serious violations, FFK has immediately reported the incidents to the match delegate and has started preparing a full complaint with facts and evidence that will be submitted to UEFA’s disciplinary bodies.’
The Romania Football Federation (FRF) said: ‘It is important to emphasise that there were no racist chants during the match, nor was the slogan “Kosovo is Serbia” chanted even once.
Riot police separated the fans from the pitch for the Nations League C, Group 2 encounter which will go down as a Romania win and seal their promotion to League B
Kosovo manager Franco Foda claimed that ‘respect was lost’ for his players
‘Moreover, we would like to remind everyone of the decision made by UEFA’s Disciplinary Committee regarding a similar incident during a match last year, where Kosovo acted in the same manner.
‘The decision clearly stated that the slogan “Kosovo is Serbia” cannot be classified as racist and, therefore, cannot trigger the three-step procedure.
‘This point was also reiterated by the UEFA delegate during the technical meeting prior to the last evening match.
‘We find it regrettable that a football team would choose to leave the pitch and retreat to the locker room just two minutes before the final whistle, given that the result was not favourable to it.’
Kosovo manager Franco Foda said: ‘Unfortunately, at the end of the match, respect was lost. And that’s why we decided to leave the field. Then we talked to the players and everyone else.
‘But the problem is that the situation in the stadium didn’t change then we all decided not to go back to the field and not to continue the match. I’m sorry for that, as the team played a great game tonight.
‘But everyone should respect the fact that we are Kosovo in the future to take appropriate steps so that what happened tonight does not happen again.’
A meeting between these two sides in a Euro 2024 qualifier in September 2023 was also suspended after Romania fans had chanted ‘Kosovo is Serbia’.
Kosovo star Lumbardh Dellova makes a sign to the Romanian fans before his side walk off
Kosovo themselves were handed a £5,000 fine for accruing too many yellow cards
On that occasion Kosovo’s stars did eventually re-emerge, only to lose 2-0, and they were not willing to restart play this time.
During the Nations League C, Group 2 match on Friday, Romania’s Denis Alibec and Kosovo defender Amir Rrahmani were pulled apart after clashing. But the main drama took off in stoppage time when the Kosovan players took flight to their dressing room after the chanting.
That left the Romania stars waiting on the pitch in their kit for around 40 minutes before they retreated to their dressing room.
And after an ultimatum to emerge within five minutes or see the match called off, Kosovo’s stars opted to keep up their protest.