World Cup team charged over 'hateful' gesture

1 year ago 51

The Serbian shot federation has been charged by FIFA aft a banner astir neighboring autarkic authorities Kosovo was hung successful the changerooms earlier playing Brazil astatine the World Cup.

It showed a representation of Serbia that included the territory of its erstwhile state - which has been an autarkic authorities for astir 15 years - and the slogan “No Surrender".

Photos circulated of the banner draped implicit the lockers of Milos Veljkovic and Andrija Zivkovic ahead of the team’s 2-0 nonaccomplishment to Brazil.

Kosovo’s shot federation formally complained to FIFA, and its sports curate Hajrulla Ceku described the representation arsenic utilizing the World Cup to beforehand “hateful, xenophobic and genocidal messages".

FIFA cited a conception of its disciplinary codification that covers misconduct including “offensive gestures, signs oregon language” and “using a sports lawsuit for demonstrations of a non-sporting nature".

FIFA gave nary timetable for a verdict, though Serbia adjacent plays connected Monday nighttime (AEDT) against Cameroon.

Since Kosovo was made a subordinate of FIFA and UEFA successful 2016, the European assemblage has ensured for information reasons its nationalist teams cannot beryllium drawn with Serbia oregon Bosnia-Herzegovina successful qualifying groups for the World Cup and European Championship.

The contented of Kosovo’s independency sparked a 1998-99 warfare successful which astir 13,000 radical died. Serbia launched a brutal crackdown to curb a separatist rebellion by the territory’s taste Albanians. NATO bombed Serbia successful 1999 to extremity the war.

Kosovo unilaterally broke distant from Serbia successful 2008. The Serbian government, with enactment from China and Russia, has refused to admit Kosovo’s statehood. The United States and astir of its European allies admit Kosovo arsenic an autarkic country.

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