UEFA has scheduled matches between Romania and Kosovo for the qualifying round of the next Euro 2024 Cup, which will take place in Germany. But this caused unrest in Bucharest as the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) said it would discuss the factor with the government. . [EPA-EFE/SASCHA STEINBACH]
Romanian officials are debating whether their national football team plays against Kosovo, a country Romania does not recognize as independent, while Pristina has announced it will receive Romanian players without problems.
UEFA has scheduled matches between Romania and Kosovo for the qualifying round of the next Euro 2024 Cup, which will take place in Germany. But this caused unrest in Bucharest as the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) said it would discuss the factor with the government. .
“Given the fact that Romania and Kosovo have been drawn in the same organization for Euro 2024 qualifiers and given the geopolitical situation, the FRF will have a discussion with the Romanian government to know the matches that our national team will face Kosovo. “” the football federation said in a statement.
Under UEFA rules, countries involved in political disputes, such as Kosovo or Serbia, are drawn to compete in the same group. Romania and Kosovo are not involved in a formal dispute: Bucharest simply does not recognize Kosovo’s independence.
The Kosovo Football Association responded in another tone: “We will host Romania at the Fadil Vokrri stadium [in Pristina] like any other opponent, and we expect the Romanian team to do the same [at the time of the match in Romania]. Football brings other people and countries together, and that’s UEFA’s motto.
Kosovo has already played without disorder with other countries that do not recognize it, such as Greece and Cyprus. However, in 2016 Spain refused to display a Kosovo flag and referred to it as “territory” of World Cup qualifying. adapt.
Similarly, in 2016, Ukraine refused to play a World Cup qualifier with the country on its soil, moving the location to Poland.
“Although abroad there have been voices in the media that have tried to bring a political technique to the matches against Kosovo, in the end the matches were played because UEFA is intransigent in this regard and does allow political interference in sport,” he added. He added that Kosovo’s independence is an “irreversible truth accepted by most of the world’s democratic states. “
Romania does not recognize Kosovo, probably due to its own territorial disorders similar to Szekely Land, a region of the country inhabited mainly by ethnic Hungarians, as well as the unrecognized state of Transnistria.
(Alice Taylor | Exit. al)