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Fifa opened disciplinary proceedings against the Serbian football association after their team hoisted a controversial flag depicting Kosovo in their dressing room ahead of their World Cup defeat to Brazil.
The flag has a picture of Kosovo with the Serbian flag, with the words “do not surrender”.
Stress is run high between ethnic Serbs and the Albanian-led government in Kosovo, amid fears that violence could flare up again, 23 years after the Kosovo war.
Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia – an ally of Russia – does not recognize it as an independent country.
On Friday, the Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK) filed a complaint with Fifa, world football’s governing body, about Serbia’s “chauvinist rhetoric”.
In a statement, it said: “Such chauvinistic acts have no place in a sporting event, and much less in the premises where world football’s biggest event takes place. , therefore, the FFK, as an equal member with all other members of Fifa, requests from this organization to implement sanctions against acts of incitement to hatred between the nation and goes against human values.”
It added: “This action cannot be accepted in silence, so we strongly urge Fifa to strictly implement its rules and punish the Serbian football federation for this aggressive and anti-social act. reflect the values that football conveys.”
Kosovo’s sports minister, Hajrulla Ceku, said it expected “concrete actions” from Fifa against Serbia’s “messages of hatred, xenophobia and genocide”.
Fifa proceedings were opened on the basis of article 11 of the Fifa disciplinary code, which is “an offense and violation of the fair play principles” and includes “use of a sporting event to show an unsportsmanlike nature”, as well as article 4 of the 2022 World Cup regulations which refers to the responsibilities of teams at the tournament.
Kosovo was accepted into Uefa and Fifa in 2016 but according to Uefa rules, Serbia and Kosovo cannot compete against each other in the World Cup qualifiers because of tensions between the two nations.
Serbia were beaten 2-0 by Brazil in the opening match of the World Cup in Qatar on Thursday, and faced Cameroon in the next match in Group G on Monday.
Kosovo did not qualify for the World Cup.
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