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Albania and Serbia to be confirmed as co-hosts of Euro 2027 U-21

Politiko 2025-02-04 10:07:58

Albania and Serbia to be confirmed as co-hosts of Euro 2027 U-21

In a move that will surprise many and disappoint some, European football's governing body UEFA will confirm that Albania and Serbia will co-host the 2027 European Under-21 Championship, writes 'The Athletic' .

Their joint bid has been UEFA's only option since last September, when Belgium and Turkey said they were no longer interested in hosting the biennial tournament.

But the shock is not that these two Balkan rivals have triumphed in this footballing beauty pageant, it is that they have decided to unite in the first place.

Relations between Albania and Serbia have been tense since the 19th century, but they have been particularly raw since the late 1990s, when they fought over control of Kosovo, a disputed republic wedged between them that Serbia believes is the cradle of its civilization but is now more than 90 percent Albanian.

Kosovo, strongly supported by Albania, declared its independence from Serbia in 2008 and its sovereign status has been recognized by more than 100 countries around the world.

Serbia is not one of them, and the topic of Kosovo has dominated all meetings between Albania and Serbia, including football matches, even though they have not played each other since 2014, when a Euro 2016 qualifier in Belgrade was plunged into chaos when Albanians abroad used a drone to wave a Greater Albania flag over the pitch.

The flag was eventually snatched by one of the Serbian players, sparking a brawl between the two teams that ended with the Albanians being chased off the pitch by fans. UEFA initially awarded Serbia a 3-0 victory, but that decision was later overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled that the Serbs were more to blame for abandoning the game.

The two teams managed to avoid each other for a decade until both qualified for Euro 2024 in Germany last summer, where, despite not playing each other, their rivalry was one of the stories of the tournament.

Both federations were repeatedly fined by UEFA for the conduct of their fans in Germany, particularly for displaying “provocative” banners and flags during their matches, but the Albanians were hit particularly hard.

A reporter from Kosovo was sent home for booing Serbian fans during a match before Albania striker Mirlind Daku was banned for two matches for grabbing the microphone after his team's draw with Croatia and shouting nationalist chants to the crowd.

That game was a low point for recent relations between Serbia and its neighbors, as fans from Albania and Croatia were alleged to have shouted anti-Serbian chants.

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