Uefa charges Romania with offences including racist behaviour after Kosovo game
Uefa has charged Romania with five offences, including racist behaviour, following their match against Kosovo.
The Euro 2024 qualifier in Bucharest was suspended for 50 minutes on Tuesday after provocative chanting from a section of the home side’s fans.
Some Romania fans chanted “Serbia Serbia” and held up a banner which said “Kosovo is Serbia”.
The Romanian Football Federation has also been charged for a “provocative message of an offensive nature”.
Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, after years of strained relations between its Serb and mainly Albanian inhabitants.
Many Serbs consider it the birthplace of their nation. But of the 1.8 million people living in Kosovo, 92% are Albanian and only 6% Serb. The rest are Bosniaks, Gorans, Turks and Roma.
Kosovo’s independence is recognised by 100 countries, including the United Kingdom, but Romania is among a handful of EU countries which does not acknowledge that status.
Romanian supporters also held up a different banner which said “Bessarabia is Romania” in the same part of the ground as the one with the anti-Kosovo message.
Bessarabia, which had been part of Romania from 1918 to 1940, is divided between Moldova and parts of Ukraine.
The FRF – Romania’s football federation – has also been charged by Uefa over the throwing of objects by fans, lighting of fireworks and blocking of public passageways during the match against Kosovo, which Romania went on to win 2-0.