– We can confirm that a journalist has had his EC accreditation canceled due to bad behaviour, writes the European football confederation, Uefa, in an email to news. The situation they refer to arose in the stands in connection with the EC match between Serbia and England on 16 June, and it is the Kosovar TV journalist Arlind Sadiku that it all revolves around. – Hugely frustrated He himself confirms to news that he has been stripped of his European Championship access by Uefa after making the “Albanian eagle” hand gesture aimed at Serbian audiences. – I am extremely frustrated by the decision. I have covered the European Championship since 2014 and have never received a warning in my career, says an upset Sadiku to news. According to ESPN, Milan Vukovic, spokesperson for the Serbian Football Federation, has asked Uefa to ban Sadiku after seeing him make the hand gesture on a live broadcast of the match. According to Reuters, the accreditation should have been taken from him when he appeared at Albania’s press conference on Tuesday. ROUTINE: Arlind Sadiku has covered many major football events, here with Jude Bellingham after the Champions League final at Wembley this year. Photo: Skjermdump / Instagram, 20/06/2024 “The Albanian eagle” has long been a symbol of Albanian nationalism and is perceived by many as a provocation. After the Kosovo War in the late 1990s, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. But Serbia does not recognize it as an independent state. – Not done professionally The now banned journalist, who works for Kosovar Artmotion, however, takes self-criticism for his own behaviour. – I know it was not done professionally by me, but I reacted to fascist calls from Serbian fans who were holding up anti-Kosovo flags, he claims. – Has received many death threats Following the incident, Sadiku has received a lot of attention both on social media, but also in major media such as the British The Guardian, ESPN and Reuters. He now fears for his own safety: – The video of me has gone viral on social media and I have received many death threats. During the match, there were also some Serbian supporters who said they were going to take me outside the stadium. Now I am not protected by the press title, which makes me feel threatened, he says. news has previously written about the illegal flags that were seen used by several Serbian supporters at Sunday’s match: Responding to a lack of justification In 2018, Swiss players Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, who both have Kosovar Albanian roots, were fined for the same hand gesture in a World Cup -match. “The Albanian eagle” adorns the Albanian flag and is Albania’s national coat of arms, and Sadiku does not understand that what he did is seen as provocative. – It is officially used by the Albanian national team, and accepted by Uefa in that context. There were illegal anti-Kosovian flags that were allowed to hang in peace for 90 minutes without any consequences. Although Serbian fans shouted that Kosovo is part of Serbia, they were allowed to stand, but a journalist is banned for “bad behavior”, Sadiku claims. REACTS: Arlind Sadiku lacks a specific reason for why he is banned. Photo: Screenshot / Instagram, 20/06/2024 Uefa is confronted with the allegations from Sadiku, but has not responded concretely to the statements that anti-Kosovian flags were allowed to hang in peace for 90 minutes. They also point out that Sadiku can be replaced with another journalist from the same TV channel. In the e-mail Sadiku has received from Uefa, they use “misconduct” as a reason for exclusion, i.e. bad behaviour. – They gave no further arguments and never asked me about my side of the case. They even spelled my last name wrong. I could understand it if I had been banned from Serbia’s matches, but that I am totally banned is incomprehensible, says Sadiku. – An exaggerated act Balkan expert and professor Svein Mønnesland says the gesture is about Albanian nationalism and says that it is probably perceived as a provocation by the Serbs. However, he has little to spare for the fact that Uefa has chosen to ban the reporter. – I think that is an exaggerated act, because this is relatively innocent. What has been serious in the last couple of days is how the crowd has behaved during the matches. There has been very serious incitement and nationalism and racism, and Uefa must crack down on that, he says to news. CRITICAL: Professor Svein Mønnesland thinks Uefa is exaggerating. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB – I think what this journalist did with the hand gesture is the least serious of all these nationalist statements that the football matches have so far brought with them, he believes. – Can you understand that the Serbs can perceive this as provocative? – No, it is much less provocative than what the Serbian supporters have been saying from the stands. So I think that’s a very overreaction. Both from the Serbs and from Uefa, which bans a journalist because he raises his hand and shows something that is a symbol of the Albanian flag. I think that is an exaggeration, he says. Sadiku has decided to appeal against Uefa’s decision and ask for an explanation of what is behind the ban. On Wednesday, he chose to buy a ticket to Albania’s match against Italy, which he was supposed to cover journalistically. Instead, he followed it as a private individual with Albanian fans. – Tense and dangerous situation Mønnesland describes the relationship between Kosovo, Albania and Serbia as “very bad” right now. – The Serbian policy consists in asserting that Kosovo is and must be part of Serbia. They do not recognize that Kosovo is in reality a separate state and has long been so. So there is a conflict. And the Serbian minority in Kosovo still has problems because of this unresolved situation, he says. – So there is a very tense and very dangerous situation between Serbia and Kosovo. And thus also Serbia and Albania. And on the whole very dangerous for the whole situation in the Balkans. So this is a hornet’s nest, and therefore it is very unfortunate that football matches are used to stir people up in this context, he adds. Facts about Kosovo and Serbia Photo: LOUISA GOULIAMAKI / AFP Different peoples have fought for the territory of Kosovo since ancient times. This fertile highland plain has been part of both Rome, Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire. During the Middle Ages, it was in Kosovo that the emerging Serbia unfolded, which has given the country the nickname “Serbia’s cradle”. During most of the 20th century, Serbia and Kosovo were part of Yugoslavia. But when Yugoslavia collapsed in the 1990s, the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo was among those calling for independence. After several years of guerrilla warfare, Serbia and the Kosovo Liberation Army UÇK fought a bloody war from 1998 to 1999. Kosovo had the support of Albania, Croatia and NATO, which carried out a controversial bombing war. Several hundred thousand were chased internally in Kosovo and across the border to neighboring countries, until a peace agreement was signed in June 1999. Kosovo was placed under UN and NATO administration, and in 2008 the Republic of Kosovo declared independence. At the same time, Serbia and many other countries still do not recognize Kosovo’s independence. European Championship fines hail Uefa has confirmed this week that it has fined both the Albanian and Serbian football associations for the behavior of supporters so far in the European Championship. Serbia was fined 10,000 euros for “making a provocative message that is not appropriate at a sporting event”, probably related to the use of several anti-Kosovo flags in the match against England, as well as 4,500 euros in fines for throwing objects . The Albanian federation, for its part, was fined 37,375 euros for incidents that occurred in their opening match against Italy, where Albanian supporters are said to have, among other things, “come up with a provocative message that does not suit a sporting event”. Serbia has also threatened to withdraw from the European Championship after alleged cheers from spectators during Wednesday’s match between Croatia and Albania. Ruined Scottish party with dream goal 02:43 The German machine rolls on 03:40 Albania shook Croatia 02:52 Skiing for the first time after the horror fall 00:45 Show more Published 20.06.2024, at 13.13 Updated 20.06.2024, at 13.25
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TV reporter did this in an EC match – now he fears for his own life – Football EC 2024
