The UEFA Nations League match between Romania and Kosovo was abandoned in extra time late on Friday after the Kosovo players left the field in Bucharest, complaining of racist chants directed at them by Romanian fans.
UEFA, the governing body of European football, announced on its website that the match had been abandoned and would provide further details later.
Kosovo’s national team manager, Bajram Shala, stated that the decision to abandon the match was made by the Kosovo Football Federation, coach Franco Foda, and the team itself due to the “racist chants” against Kosovo.
“We, as the federation, the coach, and the team, decided not to participate in a match where the core values of UEFA were not respected. Not only were these values disrespected, but there was also racial discrimination. Therefore, we decided that we cannot allow this to happen again in the same stadium and by the same fans,” Shala said at a press conference in Bucharest.
Kosovo captain Amir Rrahmani said there were chants of “Serbia, Serbia” and “Kosovo is Serbia” from the home supporters, and that he had informed the referee “at least three times” before the Kosovo team left the pitch.
Rrahmani and the coaching staff instructed the players to leave the field two minutes before the match ended in the Arena Bucharest, with the score at 0:0, while the Romanian players remained on the field.
After about an hour of discussions between the referee and representatives of both teams, the Kosovo players refused to return to the field, despite being told that conditions had improved for the continuation of the match, which had been interrupted in the 92nd minute.
Danish referee Morten Krogh returned to the field and asked the Romanian team to restart the game, before suspending it again according to UEFA’s regulations.
UEFA is now expected to open disciplinary proceedings for the match, which could result in Kosovo losing the game with an official result for refusing to return to the field.
This is the second time in two visits by Kosovo to Bucharest in the last year that a match has been interrupted due to hostile chants from local fans against Kosovo.
UEFA had fined the Romanian Football Federation €52,000 and sanctioned it with a match behind closed doors after an investigation into several violations during the Euro 2024 qualifying match between Romania and Kosovo in September 2023.
That match between Romania and Kosovo in Bucharest had also been interrupted for about an hour after home fans made similar chants and unfurled a banner reading “Kosovo is Serbia” before the situation calmed down and the banner was removed.
Romania and Kosovo were facing off in the fifth round of Group C in League C – the second-to-lowest tier of the Nations League.
Romania is at the top of the group with 12 points and only needed a draw against Kosovo to secure promotion to League B.
Meanwhile, Kosovo, with 9 points, aimed to defeat Romania that night and win their final group match against Lithuania in Pristina, hoping Romania would at least draw with Cyprus, giving Kosovo a chance to win the group.
Romania is one of five European Union countries, alongside Spain, Cyprus, Greece, and Slovakia, that does not recognize Kosovo’s independence.
