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Opinion

Behind the bitter rivalry of Serbia and Switzerland, who face off in a World Cup rematch

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Roar Guru
2nd December, 2022
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The final match of Group G Saturday morning will decide the final nations that qualify for the knockout rounds.

It has all the making to be one of the tastiest games of the tournament, steeped in politics.

After the Balkan wars of the 1990s many refugees migrated to Switzerland.

The Swiss World Cup squad in 2018 consisted of Kosovo-born players Valon Behrami and Xherdan Shaqiri as well as Granit Xhaka, whose parents moved from Kosovo to Basel shortly before his birth.

Blerim Dzemaili is from North Macedonia. Haris Seferovic was born to Bosniak parents, while Mario Gavranovic and Josip Drmic were both born in Switzerland to Bosnian Croat parents. Coach Vladimir Petkovic was Bosnian-born.

It was an eclectic group of skill, flair and creativity that made Switzerland one of Europe’s most entertaining national teams.

The newfound rivalry between Serbia and Switzerland had been slowly simmering due to its Kosovo-born players, and it finally exploded with the events prior to, during and after the sides met in Russia in 2018.

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Shaqiri posted on his social media account a photo of his boots, one displaying the Swiss flag and the other the Kosovan flag.

His actions led to already pre-existing tension between the Serbian and ethnic Albanian Swiss players, with heated arguments and players needing to be separated in the tunnel before kick-off.

Loud booing rang out during the match whenever the Kosovo-born players touched the ball, while Russian security forces had to step in between incensed Serbian supporters and a large contingent of Swiss supporters waving Albanian flags.

Serbia was eventually beaten 2-1 in injury time, with both goals scored by Kosovo-born players, who celebrated with a political hand gesture forming the double-headed eagle of Albania’s national flag.

After the match the Serbian and Swiss football federations criticised the celebrations.

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Coach Vladimir Petkovic said “politics and sport should never mix”, while star Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrovic in a famous interview said, “If he loves Kosovo so much and decides to flaunt the flag, why did he refuse a chance to play for their team?”.

Goal scorers Shaqiri and Xhaka for their part said they got lost in the emotion and heat of the moment.

Switzerland’s victory was wildly acclaimed in Kosovo, with the president and Albanian prime minister taking to social media to voice their joy.

In the aftermath FIFA fined both Xhaka and Shaqiri 10,000 Swiss francs (A$15,650) while the Serbian football federation also was fined 54,000 francs (A$84,500) for crowd disturbances.

Fast-forward to 2022 and Xhaka and Shaqiri are still playing for Switzerland.

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Meanwhile, Serbia have already drawn the ire of FIFA this tournament when a banner from their dressing room was leaked to the press.

The banner shows a map of Kosovo with a Serbian flag within it and the words “no surrender”, reportedly seen as a reference to Serbs in northern Kosovo resisting government pressure to change Serbia-issued licence plates for Kosovo-issued ones.

Serbia has one of the most technically gifted teams at the World Cup, with a squad full of players in Europe’s best leagues.

Its exciting all-out attack coupled with an absurdly high defensive line contributed to the best game in the tournament so fat, the roller-coaster 3-3 draw with Cameroon.

However, external and internal issues could derail another golden generation of players.

Fireworks are expected for a match that will have repercussions for the countries involved, all while the rest of the world curiously watches the drama unfold.

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