Serbia and Albania move on from ‘drone’ game but tensions still simmer

Rivals will co-host the 2027 U-21 European Championship, years on from flashpoint that sparked a diplomatic incident

It was far more than a football flashpoint when, on a night in Belgrade that resembled the most vivid fever dream, all hell broke loose in a Euro 2016 qualifier between Serbia and Albania. The “drone” game of October 2014 is notorious and the abiding memory is of Albania’s players fleeing down the tunnel at Partizan Stadium, a tinderbox that had ignited dangerously. It sparked a diplomatic incident, the home country immediately summoning its near neighbour’s ambassador to discuss the chaos wreaked after a “Greater Albania” flag had been lowered over the pitch before half-time. Blame flew in every conceivable direction and it was a case study in how sport can amplify longstanding enmities in visceral, deeply consequential fashion.

Maybe it was a dream after all. On Tuesday Uefa announced that the two countries would co-host its Under-21 Championship in 2027, confirming a decision effectively made last year after Belgium and Turkey withdrew their bids. There is justifiable contentment inside European football’s governing body given the hurdles that needed to be overcome. The line, as repeated by the Albanian FA president and Uefa ExCo vice-president Armand Duka, is that the event will be “a catalyst for breaking down barriers, enhancing mutual understanding and creating a more positive future for the people of Albania and Serbia”.