Serbia’s supporters displayed fascist slogans and directed racist chants at ethnic Albanians during their team’s game against Switzerland on Friday night, an eyewitness report to the Observer revealed.
The scenes at Stadium 974 in Doha, where Switzerland won 3-2 to secure a place in the last 16 in a game that backfired in the second half, raise questions about Fifa’s leadership and particularly its apparent ones Tolerance to offensive insignia. Hasan Rrahmani came to the game with an Albanian flag around his neck but said he had it confiscated at the entrance while derogatory nationalist symbols were allowed through. He says he was shown a WhatsApp message that Fifa sent to security personnel that contained images of objects, pictures and phrases that were not allowed.
“I was stunned to see all the fascist slogans, t-shirts and flags,” Rrahmani said. He has shown the Observer photographic evidence of a supporter wearing a green hat closely linked to atrocities in the Kosovo and Bosnia wars, and says the man was part of a group in the same clothes. Among other items of clothing worn freely in the stadium are t-shirts that read “From Serbia to Tokyo,” a nationalist slogan used by Serbian football fans during the 1990s wars. According to Rrahmani, police were not interested in complaints related to the items or in three-finger gestures, which are considered offensive in many contexts.
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Fifa may find it easier to deal with fans’ chants after broadcasting a public address in the 77th minute asking for “discriminatory chants and gestures” to be stopped. Rrahmani says these were audible early in the evening. “I was shocked by the vitriol, absolutely amazed,” he says. “They sang the most obnoxious racist chants.”
He said he heard songs that included the word “Šiptar,” a well-known derogatory term used against Albanians, and a call-and-response routine of “Kill, kill, kill the Albanians,” among other things. Fans also chanted “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” in connection with their country’s refusal to recognize Kosovan independence, he says. “It would start in a corner and the rest of the fans would pick it up,” Rrahmani said. Such songs are not unheard of at matches that have ignited tensions between Serbia and Albania, including the infamous ‘drone’ match in October 2014 when a Euro 2016 qualifier in Belgrade was thrown into chaos.
Rrahmani describes how he collected his flag from a collection point after the game and also saw Serbs return some confiscated items. He describes being attacked by “seven or eight” Serbian fans as he left the stadium area. “They pushed me and said, ‘Go fuck yourself, Šiptar,'” he said. “They threw water at me. I tried to walk away but seven or eight big guys followed me. I ended up running to the police who did nothing. Everything that happened that evening was just plain scary. What I expected as a good night brought back all the memories of the past that I thought were gone.” He says the police were polite and reassuring but let the group go.
Serbia is already under investigation by Fifa for displaying a flag showing Kosovo as part of its territory along with the words “We do not surrender” in its dressing room ahead of last week’s game against Brazil. Rrahmani says similar flags were visible in the ground.
“The inconsistency of FIFA shocks me,” he says. “How on earth are you going to allow fans in a World Cup stadium to scream about killing another nation in 2022? I came away feeling left out and unwelcomed by Fifa.”
Rrahmani stresses that this was an anomaly in an otherwise enjoyable experience in World Cup stadiums. He was born in Kosovo and lives in London; He has been following England and Wales in Qatar but attended Friday’s game to support Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka, Swiss players with Kosovar roots. Their goal celebrations in the same game at Russia 2018, forming Albanian “eagle” symbols with their hands, caused controversy and provided much of the context for the second-half scenes in Doha.
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Xhaka could face investigation for grabbing his genitals outside the Serbian bank, and other figures from both camps could face reprimands. An Albania fan was escorted out of the stadium in the second half after making the eagle gesture.
Fifa declined to comment on the prospects for disciplinary action or the problems Rrahmani described.