Serbia has taken offense to ‘kill the Serbs’ chants between Croatia and Albania fans during Group B Croatia vs. Albania match in Hamburg, Germany, that ended in a 2-2 draw. If Serbia quits, the group could be impacted.
Jovan Surbatovic, General Secretary of the Serbian Football Association, described the fans’ chant as scandalous. He said the Serbian FA will ask UEFA for sanctions, even if it comes at the cost of not continuing the tournament. Surbatovic expressed confidence that UEFA will punish the federations of both selections. He added that if UEFA fails to punish them, Serbia FA will look at how to proceed.
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Surbatovic highlighted that Serbia FA was punished on Monday, with a €4,500 penalty, for isolated cases and their fans behave much better than others. He was referring to the incident where Serbian fans threw objects and transmitted provocative message after Serbia lost to England.
There was also a case of Serbia fans displaying a flag that included the territory of Kosovo, and banners that contained political, chauvinistic and racist message. The Serbian FA executive pointed out that a fan was punished and added that “Serbs are gentlemen and we always have an open heart, so I appeal to the fans to remain gentlemen.”
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What Happens If Serbia Withdraws From UEFA EURO 2024?
Things will definitely get complicated if a team quits in the middle of an ongoing UEFA EURO tournament. Several teams withdrew from the EURO tournament in the 1950s. One example is France. It quit from the 1950 World Cup because it saw itself as a very weak team and had very small chances of having any impact in the matches.
If Serbia goes ahead with its withdrawal from UEFA EURO 2024, it will be slapped with a hefty fine. This would also give Denmark an automatic win and England would need to do all it can for a positive.
