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This is actually a very good political message that we can convey. The history between Serbia and Albania is well known...
A bid for the co-hosting of Euro U-21 by Albania and Serbia is an impossible project in European football and politics.
The Balkan neighbors' football federations have surprisingly joined forces to try to convince UEFA to award them the 2027 European Men's Under-21 Championship in a vote expected in December.
It has been just under 10 years since the infamous drone game in Belgrade and fresh memories of it have fueled opposition to the 2027 bid from some fans, as well as Albania's captain that evening.
A drone carrying an Albanian nationalist flag caused chaos when it flew over the stadium and landed at pitch level as Serbia hosted Albania for a Euro 2016 qualifier in October 2014.
Clashes between the players, which then brought Serbian fans onto the field, caused the game to be stopped. The result was decided just nine months later by a court in Switzerland.
Historical tensions had been heightened by conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s and especially since 2008 when most ethnic Albanians declared independence in the former Serbian province of Kosovo. Serbia refuses to recognize that independence and considers Kosovo the cradle of its citizenship and the Orthodox Christian religion.
In this state of play, Serbia and Albania - who qualified for Euro 2024 in Germany - hope to co-host one of UEFA's biggest tournaments.
" In reality it is a 100% football project ", said the president of the Albanian Football Federation Armand Duka to the Associated Press in a recent interview. " This is actually a very good political message that we can convey. The history between Serbia and Albania is well known .
There was resistance. A group of fans of the national team threw red paint on the walls near the federation and attached images of historical conflicts with Serbia.
The group "Red and Black Fans" said that Albania has enough neighbors so "why do we go through Kosovo to give help to Serbia"?
" We had some negative reactions from the fans, mainly, and some interest groups, but not from the Albanian government ," said Duka to AP.
A joint bid for the 16-team tournament was not the original plan and Kosovo was not a viable option, as it has only one UEFA-level stadium with only 14,000 seats.
Duka admitted that co-hosting gives Albania a better chance of winning and means offering just four stadiums instead of the tournament's full eight-stadium roster.
The prominent venue in Tirana is the new national stadium, the 22,000-seat National Arena. It opened in 2019 and hosted the first Europa Conference League final two years ago.
" Maybe 10 years ago it was unthinkable that we would have a chance to bid ," Duka said through a translator.
Even Albania has more influence in UEFA. The Duke was elected to UEFA's executive committee in 2019 and was recently promoted to the position of vice-president.
On the field, Albania's team including several Kosovar Albanians now prepares for a second Euro in eight years. She topped the group ahead of the Czech Republic and Poland.
The debut at Euro 2016 was helped by the final verdict due to the drone, ranking Albania above third place Denmark.
Court of Arbitration judges blamed the Serbian organizers for not finishing the match in Belgrade and overturned UEFA's decision of a default victory for Serbia. Albania won 3-0.
Albania's 2016 captain Lorik Cana, who defended the drone flag, is not a fan of the co-hosting plan.
" It's not the right step for me ," said Cana, who was born in Kosovo. " Without overcoming some processes of normalizing relations, it would be difficult to have joint organizations despite the good will from the federation ," he said.
A week after the drone, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama's visit to Belgrade was the first by a prime minister in 68 years.
Both countries have applied for membership in the European Union and have started negotiations with Brussels. Albania is a member of NATO while Serbia is still on the waiting list.
" I don't expect any negative reaction from the government of Kosovo ", said Duka. " The wound is still a little fresh, it's only 25 years old. So I understand a certain reaction. But we have to go beyond that, look forward and have a better future ," he added. / Adapted "Pamphlet" from "Associated Press"
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