Red Star banned from playing match in Kosovo

By: The Associated Press Posted: 5:57 AM CDT Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 Last Modified: 11:21 AM CDT Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019

Advertise with us

JARINJE, Kosovo - Authorities in Kosovo banned Red Star Belgrade from playing a soccer match against a local Serb team on Wednesday and prevented the club's bus from crossing into the former Serbian province.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

Read unlimited articles for free today:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/10/2019 (2513 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JARINJE, Kosovo – Authorities in Kosovo banned Red Star Belgrade from playing a soccer match against a local Serb team on Wednesday and prevented the club’s bus from crossing into the former Serbian province.

Tensions were high on a border crossing as police faced off with Red Star fans and Kosovo Serb politicians waiting for the bus to arrive. The Serbian FA Cup game against Trepca was scheduled to be played later Wednesday in a village in northern Kosovo.

The Red Star delegation was informed by Kosovo police that the match will not be played and the bus was turned back to Serbia.

Serbian police officers guard a bus with Red Star players at the border crossing between Serbia and Kosovo, near the village of Rudnica, Serbia, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019. Kosovo authorities have banned a soccer match between Red Star Belgrade and a local Serb team and prevented their bus from crossing into the former Serbian province. (AP Photo/Bojan Slavkovic)

Ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

Kosovo authorities have said the planned match represents a Serbian political provocation.

Serbian officials asked UEFA and FIFA to ban Kosovo from their soccer associations.

Serbian Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin said Red Star is “one of the Serbian symbols and that’s why it is not welcome among the enemies of Serbia.”

The president of Kosovo’s football association, Adem Ademi, said the match was stopped because “one country cannot organize official competitions in another country” without their consent.