Another day of the qualifying round for the European Football Championship ended in a resonant scandal. The action of the fans of the Romanian national team led to a long stoppage of the match.

Even the captain’s intervention did not help.

Provocative banner

The day before, qualifying for the 2024 European Football Championship crossed the equator. The important moment has come when the result of one match can decide the fate of the team in the qualifying round.

The confrontation between Romania and Kosovo was important for both teams. The defeat practically put an end to the Kosovars’ dreams of traveling to Germany. The Romanians needed to win in order to maintain second place in the Group I table, because only two teams receive tickets to the Euro.

A representative of the Russian championship also took part in this match. Akhmat midfielder Bernard Berisha appeared on the field in the Kosovo national team from the first minutes. The visitors got off to a good start and were the first to create a dangerous scoring chance. Edon Zhegrova could have become a hero for Kosovo, but his shot was parried by the goalkeeper.

However, already in the 18th minute, football faded into the background after Romanian fans hung a banner with political content on the podium: “Kosovo is Serbia.” The guests were furious and called on referee Danny Makkelie to take action.

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The referee stopped the game, but this had no effect on the fans. On the contrary, they became angry and began chanting: “Serbia, Serbia, Serbia.” Then they lit fires. Even the Romanian football players were shocked by what was happening. Home captain Nicolae Stanciu personally tried to calm the crowd. The fearless player went straight to the stands and asked for the banner to be removed, but the fans were adamant.

“Irresponsible fan behavior”

Makkelie sent the teams to the locker rooms. It took more than 40 minutes to restore order in the stadium. Only after this the meeting resumed.

It must be said that the scandalous story benefited the owners. The Kosovo team remained in the minority and conceded twice in the end, practically losing their chances of traveling to Germany. Berisha also cannot count this meeting as an asset. He only received a yellow card on the scoresheet and was replaced in the 81st minute.

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The behavior of the fans did not find support even from the owners. The local federation sharply condemned the appearance of the provocative banner in the stands.

— The Romanian Football Federation strongly condemns the irresponsible behavior of fans in the south stand, which led to the stoppage of yesterday’s match. First of all, we adhere to the principle of non-interference of politics in sports activities,” says a statement on the official website of the federation.

After this behavior of fans, we should probably expect severe sanctions from UEFA. There is no doubt that the association will punish the fans for the political banner. So far, the main football body in Europe has not made official statements on this matter.

Watch matches of the Euro 2024 qualifying stage on the channels of the Match holding company, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.