A UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match involving the national association football teams of Serbia and Albania took place on 14 October 2014 at the Partizan Stadium in Belgrade, Serbia. The match was abandoned after several incidents of hooliganism took place both on and off the field. Serbian fans had chanted "Ubij, ubij Šiptara" (Kill, kill the Albanian), and threw flares and other objects on the pitch. At that point a drone quadcopter carrying an Albanian nationalist banner with an image of Greater Albania appeared on the pitch.

During an interruption of play, Albanian players rushed towards a Serbian player, Stefan Mitrović, who had brought down the banner from the drone attempting to remove it. Conflict arose when Bekim Balaj ran over and took the banner. This triggered a pitch invasion by Serbian fans and security stewards, who proceeded to attack some of the Albanian players, four of whom sustained minor injuries. In addition to attacks by Serbian fans, the Albanian side claimed that their players were also attacked by stewards and riot police. This was denied and a counter-claim of provocation was made by Serbian officials.

On 24 October 2014, UEFA awarded Serbia a 3–0 walkover win against Albania on the grounds that Albania had been at fault for refusing to resume the match. Serbia was, however, given a three-point deduction, and ordered to play its next two homes games behind closed doors. In addition both teams were fined €100,000. The decision was appealed by both Serbia and Albania, but the decision was upheld by UEFA. Both associations then filed further appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and on 10 July 2015, the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected the appeal entirely filed by the Football Association of Serbia, but upheld in part the appeal filed by the Albanian Football Association. The CAS ruled that the match abandonment was caused by "security lapses of the organizers and acts of violence exerted on the Albanian players by the Serbian fans and at least one security steward", and therefore reversed the result, awarding a 3–0 victory to Albania. The points deduction to Serbia, fines, and order to play Serbia home games without a crowd were left intact.

Background The historically rivalrous countries of Serbia and Albania were drawn together on 23 February 2014 in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group I. Although Armenia and Azerbaijan were separated in the qualifier to avoid incidents (due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict) as well as Gibraltar and Spain (due to the disputed status of Gibraltar), Serbia and Albania were not, with UEFA claiming that it was because neither nation had directly fought a war with each other. The two countries have strong political disagreements regarding Kosovo, which culminated during the Kosovo War. UEFA further defended their decision to keep Albania and Serbia in the same group, claiming that because neither association had requested to be kept separate from each other, nor were there any requests filed after the draw, UEFA did not feel the need to separate the teams.

Match

Events The game between Serbia and Albania took place at Partizan Stadium in Belgrade, Serbia, on 14 October 2014, as part of UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group I. The Football Association of Serbia, Albanian Football Association, and UEFA had all mutually agreed to ban Albanian fans from attending the game for precautionary reasons, unless they did not carry any kind of Albanian paraphernalia.

According to the Albanian Football Association, on the day of the game, the Albanian team bus was hit with stones thrown by Serbian fans, and a chunk of concrete was thrown at them while on the field, as well as "coins, lighters and other objects" which were hurled at players during pre-game warm-ups.

Before the game started, Serbian supporters chanted "Kill the Albanians".

During the game's opening moments, Serbian fans burned a NATO flag. Around 15 minutes into the game, the first flare was thrown on the pitch. Approximately ten minutes later, a Greek flag was raised by the Serbian fans. Ten minutes before half time, flares were thrown towards Ansi Agolli as he was about to take a corner kick, and a firecracker exploded. Several objects were thrown at him, and at the assistant referee. The match was briefly suspended, and Danko Lazović and Aleksandar Kolarov attempted to ease tension as players briefly retreated from stands. After 40 seconds, the match continued, while the stadium announcer asked fans not to throw objects onto the pitch. At around the 40-minute mark, a bottle was thrown at Bekim Balaj, and some Serbian fans tried to invade the pitch, leading to brawls between them and security.

In the 42nd minute of the match, English referee Martin Atkinson suspended the game again due to Serbian fans launching flares onto the pitch. While the game was suspended, a small remote-controlled quadcopter drone suspending a gonfalon hovered over the stadium. This nationalistic banner showed the faces of modern Albania's founding father and prime minister, Ismail Kemal, and the Albanian revolutionary commander Isa Boletini, the word "autochthonous" (in English), 28 November 1912 (the date of the Albanian Declaration of Independence), and a map of Greater Albania (with the territory covered in the Albanian flag). Serbian defender Stefan Mitrović jumped and pulled the flag down, causing Albanian defenders Andi Lila and Taulant Xhaka to run at him in attempt to retrieve it, leading to a brief scuffle between players. Bekim Balaj finally took the flag from Mitrović, and tried to take it off the field, until a Serbian fan ran onto the pitch and struck him across the back of the head with a plastic stool. Albanian captain Lorik Cana quickly took the fan to the ground and began punching him, before the situation escalated into a brawl involving players from both teams, Serbian fans, substitutes, pitch stewards, and staff. Serbian hooligans came onto the pitch and began attacking Albanian players with chairs and other objects, prompting the referee to lead the teams off the field. Albanian players were attacked and hit by thrown objects as they ran into the player tunnel, whereas Serbian players received a standing ovation while they calmly left the pitch. After a 30-minute delay, the game was finally abandoned at 0–0.

Before the Albanian team left the stadium, Serbian police searched the bags of an entire 45-person delegation of supporters from Albania in an attempt to find the remote for the drone, to no avail. Responsibility for the drone was immediately claimed by the Shvercerat, a fan group of the Macedonian club Shkupi, a club operated by Albanians, though no evidence has surfaced to support their claim.

In the following match between the two teams, played in Elbasan on 7 October 2015, the Serbian fans were not allowed to travel to Albania for security reasons. On that same day, Albanian police arrested a man suspected of piloting the drone during the Belgrade match.

Details

GK 1 Vladimir StojkovićRB 6 Branislav Ivanović (c) CB 13Stefan MitrovićCB 5 Matija NastasićLB 11Aleksandar KolarovCM 8 Nemanja GudeljCM 14Nemanja MatićRW 7 Zoran TošićAM 19Filip ĐuričićLW 10Dušan TadićCF 18Danko LazovićManager: Dick Advocaat GK 1 Etrit BerishaRB 4 Elseid HysajCB 5 Lorik Cana (c)CB 15Mërgim MavrajLB 7 Ansi Agolli DM 13Burim KukeliCM 14Taulant XhakaCM 22Amir AbrashiRM 2 Andi LilaLM 3 Ermir LenjaniCF 19Bekim BalajManager: Gianni De Biasi

Assistant referees: Michael Mullarkey (England) Stephen Child (England) Fourth official: Peter Kirkup (England) Additional assistant referees: Anthony Taylor (England) Craig Pawson (England)Match rules 90 minutes (match abandoned after 42 minutes) Maximum of three substitutions.

Reactions Upon arriving at Tirana International Airport, the Albanian team were ebulliently received by a crowd of 5,000 fans. 15,000 people feasted in the early morning hours at the Mother Teresa Square of Tirana. Festivities were also held by Albanian supporters in Pristina, Kosovo, as well as in Skopje, Struga, and Kumanovo. In Tetovo, Albanians who celebrated were fined €200 for being too loud by the local authorities. A few days later, the team was awarded by the cities of Tirana, Vlorë, Kamëz, and Bajram Curri with awards of honour and city recognition for protecting national symbols.

The Serbian side claimed that this was a staged political provocation from the Albanian side, and accused an Albanian VIP attending the match, Olsi Rama (brother of Prime Minister Edi Rama) of piloting the drone, and searched him for the remote. Rama would emphatically reject this accusation. The Serbian Prime Minister's office also stated that Rama was arrested and sent home to Albania, a claim denied by the Albanian government's spokesman. Rama denied any involvement and said that he had been moved from the VIP box for security reasons and informed the authorities that he held American citizenship before being given a police escort to waiting buses. Later, Igli Tare, former Albanian captain and current Lazio sports director, declared that he was with Rama, and that the latter merely carried a camera.

On the other hand, UEFA President Michel Platini said he was "deeply saddened" by what had happened, adding: "Football is supposed to bring people together and our game should not be mixed with politics of any kind. The scenes in Belgrade last night were inexcusable." FIFA President Sepp Blatter said: "Football should never be used for political messages. I strongly condemn what happened in Belgrade last night."

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić stated that the flag incident was a "political provocation", and "The main question for me is how will the European Union and UEFA react, because if someone from Serbia had unveiled a flag of Greater Serbia in Tirana or Pristina it would already be on the agenda of the UN Security Council". On 16 October, Serbian Interior Minister Nebojša Stefanović said that the police were examining the drone to determine its commander and where it was purchased. Serbian authorities later claimed that Albania was "not mature enough" to join the European Union because "statements by leaders of the Albanian government demonstrate that they knew such a provocation was being prepared". This prompted the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon the Serbian envoy and cast further doubt on a visit by Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama to Belgrade on 22 October, the first of its kind in almost 70 years. Eventually the visit itself was postponed to 10 November 2014, but Rama was not expected to see the President of Serbia, Tomislav Nikolić.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić said that he had warned EU representatives five times ahead of the game of a possible provocation by the Albanian officials at the game, noting that some of the officials wore scarves of the Kosovo Liberation Army, saying "it was clear that they had come with an unambiguous intention to provoke the hosts".

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama responded by declaring that "a normal Serbia might be possible only if the real Serbia will understand that Greater Albania is their nightmare, not our project". In an interview he also added that "the sooner Serbia formally recognizes that Kosovo will never again be its part, the better for Serbia and the region", thus inviting Serbia to recognize Kosovo.

Agim Cana, former footballer and father of Albania's captain Lorik, declared that the Serbian fans' behavior was racist and fascist.

Incidents as a result of the game Incidents followed the game outside of Belgrade, not only in Serbia, but also in other countries:

In Serbia In Serbia, mostly in its northern province Vojvodina, after the match, at least a dozen bakeries and snack bars owned by ethnic Albanians were set on fire in Novi Sad, Sombor and Stara Pazova, and a bomb was used in one case.Nationalism gaining Strength in Serbia and Albania .DW

In Montenegro