The draw for the World Cup qualifiers has placed Albania in a very difficult group together with England, which is the head of the group, and Serbia.
The Reds are ranked in group K with 5 teams, England, Serbia, Latvia and Andorra.
England is one of the most difficult teams for the Reds and Blacks, especially in the elimination stage where they rarely give up points, while we met Serbia in the 2016 European qualifiers, in that match in Belgrade, which was engulfed by numerous riots and the meeting was interrupted and Albania won the table 0-3.
The other two teams in the group, Latvia and Andorra, are at least on paper easily passable.
What happened on October 14, 2014 in Belgrade?
On October 14, 2014, the match between Serbia and Albania, part of the Euro 2016 qualifiers, was stopped at 9:27 p.m., after Serbian fans entered the field and clashed with the players of our national team.
This is a forewarned shame for Serbia, as UEFA did not allow the participation of Albanian fans in the match for security reasons. After singing our national anthem and shouting almost the entire time "Kill the Albanians", the Serbian fans caused the meeting to be interrupted in the middle.
In the 42nd minute, a drone with the Albanian flag and the portraits of Ismail Qemali and Isa Boletini appeared over the stadium. After a Serbian player took the flag, the Albanian players approached him to take it from his hand. The tension between the footballers on the field degenerated into a mass brawl, as - despite the increased presence of security forces - Serbian fans entered the field and attacked our players.
The Albanian players refused to go out on the field and returned to Tirana around 3 am, being welcomed as heroes at the Rinas Airport.
The battle moved from the field of play to UEFA's bureaucracies. The latter decided on October 24, 2014 that the match was won 3-0 on the table by Serbia, as the Albanians refused to play. But a year later, the three points were awarded to Albania, after the decision in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Even through this result on the table, Albania managed to secure the historic qualification for the 2016 European Championship, which was held in France.
The authorship of the drone flight over the Belgrade stadium was taken by Ismail Morina, known as Ballisti.
Today, a decade later, despite political tensions mainly related to Kosovo, Albania and Serbia have applied to co-host the U-21 European Championship, which will take place in 2027. UEFA has not yet given an official answer, although this is the only candidacy.
The decision has aroused many reactions in Albania and Kosovo, where the Albanian Football Federation is asked to withdraw from this initiative. (A2 Televizion)
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