Balkan tensions burst onto the pitch at Euro 2024

BELGRADE — Thousands of football fans from neighboring Balkan states have unleashed their passionate national rivalries at Euro 2024 in Germany — and the ugly scenes are causing a headache for tournament organizers.

UEFA, European football’s governing body, has been flooded with complaints from the football associations of the Balkan countries after offensive banners were flown and violent chants were sung in the stands, outside the stadiums and even on the pitch.

The scars of relatively recent regional wars and a deep-seated distrust between neighbors have sparked aggravation at the flagship continental football tournament. The Balkans, with its tightly packed mix of diverse nations and ethnic groups, often sees nationalists clashing. Now, these groups have brought their coarse language and slurs to tournament venues in Germany.

One Albanian player received a two-game ban after leading chants of “F**k Macedonia” after a game last week, while Croatian and Albanian fans have chanted “Kill the Serb!”

Serbian supporters are being investigated over racist abuse during a match, and Slovenian and Serbian fans alike claimed that “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia,” a line which denies Kosovo its independence, claiming the youngest Balkan state should still be controlled by its northern neighbor, Serbia.

Ultranationalist flags redrawing fraught Balkan borders have also been waved in the stands, while a Kosovan journalist was booted out of the tournament for flashing a provocative eagle symbol at Serbian fans — and boasting about it online.

The Balkan fans’ agitated behavior mirrors the tense real-life political relationships between their countries, known for deep-seated animosities and unresolved bilateral disputes.

Euro 2024 has allowed those regional tensions to visibly flare up.

“The stadium is an incredible multiplier of pre-existing sentiments, and these games do not happen in a vacuum since people follow what is happening between their respective countries on a daily basis,” said Dario Brentin, a social scientist at the University of Graz and expert on Balkan football culture.

“It is a generator of great national pride, and in that sense it covers up for the deficiencies or disappointments people are experiencing in other walks of life,” continued Brentin.

Football, for the fans who have traveled to Germany, is a welcome distraction from the typically negative headlines the post-conflict region is renowned for.

“I came here to have fun with my friends and to cheer for Albania, who are doing really well despite being in a tough group,” said Reis Saraqi, a 35-year-old Kosovar who is following matches from the western German city of Dortmund.

Watching their teams be treated as equals against football giants is a spectacle that Balkan nations rarely experience. | Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images

Watching their teams be treated as equals against football giants is a spectacle that Balkan nations rarely experience in other areas where they have international presence.

“But the relatively recent wars in our past have undeniably had an effect and caused incidents between fans,” Saraqi added.

Those conflicts, combined with Germany boasting one of the largest Balkan diaspora communities in Europe — who tend to be even more outspoken in their nationalist fervor — have proven to be a recipe for mayhem.

“It is enough for a small group of more radical or organized fans to initiate the chanting, and the mass psychology and euphoria of the moment leads to many people unreflectively tagging along,” said Brentin.

Even the football players themselves joined in. Mirlind Daku, the Albanian forward, led chants of “F**k Macedonia!” after the match with Croatia on Wednesday, and the football association of North Macedonia filed a complaint against him — despite not making it to the group phase themselves.

The mixed Balkan background of a famous athlete from another sport was even used to taunt rivals.

On Thursday, Serbian fans in Munich for the match against Slovenia chanted “Luka Dončić is one of ours!” — highlighting the ethnic Serbian background of the superstar basketball player, who plays for the Slovenian national team.

So far UEFA has slapped both the Albanian and Serbian federations with €10,000 fines following their opening group matches due to fans displaying flags with maps encroaching on each other’s borders and banners with “provocative messages unsuitable for a sports setting.”

Serbia’s fine climbed to €14,500 due to throwing objects, and it is also being investigated over racist abuse, while Albania faces a hefty total of €37,375 for pitch invasions and igniting fireworks. Several other incidents are still under investigation.

“Ultimately, all these complaints the football associations are sending to UEFA are not really thought through,” Brentin said. “They pounce at the opportunity to report their neighbors, not considering that their own fans are doing the same thing or using similarly derogatory rhetoric.”

Football is such a major part of Balkan identity that parents sometimes sign up their newborns for club memberships with favorites like Hajduk Split or Željezničar Sarajevo before even getting a birth certificate.

Little wonder, really, that tensions are simmering.