The Serbian Football Federation is threatening to withdraw its national team from the European Championship if UEFA does not take action regarding the offensive chants heard during Croatia-Albania, played yesterday 19 June. Both the Albanian and Croatian fans had in fact repeatedly chanted: “Ubij, ubij Srbina”, that is, literally “kill, kill the Serbian” during the match played in Hamburg and which ended 2-2. The protest from the president of the Serbian federation, Jovan Surbatovic, was very harsh, as in a letter sent to the general secretary of UEFA, Teodor Theodoridis, he asked for the two groups of fans to be punished. Otherwise, the Serbian Football Federation might even leave the tournament.
Serbia’s protest
According to the Serbian Football Federation, the match should have been stopped the moment the chants started. And then the “three steps” procedure had to be triggered, as required by the UEFA regulations in the case of racist or discriminatory behavior in stadiums. The Serbs therefore ask to “urgently and severely punish those responsible for such events, because this kind of fury, hatred and racism is everything your organization is fighting against.” Speaking on Serbian TV, Surbatovic then threatened: “What happened is scandalous and we will ask for sanctions from UEFA, even at the cost of not continuing the competition.”
What happens in case of withdrawal
If they were to decide to withdraw from the European Championship, Serbia would not play the last match of their group against Denmark. At that point UEFA will have to sanction the 3-0 defeat, as well as fine the Serbian Football Federation. And the chances of qualifying for the round of 16 would increase for Slovenia, who today drew 1-1 against the Serbs.
