Nations League clash ABANDONED following on-pitch brawl – as one team walks off in protest in the last MINUTE after ‘taking offence’ from fan chants

A Nations League match was abandoned on Friday night following a bust-up and supposedly offensive chanting – as one team stormed off in the last minute amid jeers. 

Kosovo’s stars walked off in the 93rd minute of their trip to Romania after the home fans reportedly chanted about Serbia – who refuse to recognise Kosovo’s independence.

UEFA did not explain why the game was cut short but Kosovo players were reportedly upset at hearing the pro-Serbian slogans – with riot police dividing them from the stands. 

While the Romanian stars remained on the pitch in -2C temperatures, Kosovo’s players reportedly chomped on pizza in the away dressing room and refused to come back out. The match was eventually abandoned an hour after it was stopped with the score at 0-0. 

‘Unfortunately, at the end of the match, respect was lost. And that’s why we decided to leave the field. Then we talked to the players and everyone else,’ said Kosovo manager Franco Foda. 

‘But the problem is that the situation in the stadium didn’t change then we all decided not to go back to the field and not to continue the match. I’m sorry for that, as the team played a great game tonight. 

‘But everyone should respect the fact that we are Kosovo in the future to take appropriate steps so that what happened tonight does not happen again.’ 

A meeting between these two sides in a Euro 2024 qualifier in September 2023 was also suspended after Romania fans had chanted ‘Kosovo is Serbia’. On that occasion Kosovo’s stars did eventually re-emerge, only to lose 2-0, and they were not willing to restart play this time.  

During the Nations League C, Group 2 match on Friday, Romania’s Denis Alibec and Kosovo defender Amir Rrahmani were pulled apart after clashing. But the main drama took off in stoppage time when the Kosovan players took flight to their dressing room after the chanting. 

That left the Romania stars waiting on the pitch in their kit for around 40 minutes before they retreated to their dressing room.

And after an ultimatum to emerge within five minutes or see the match called off, Kosovo’s stars opted to keep up their protest. 

‘There were constant calls ‘Serbia, Kosovo’. This happened for 90 minutes. In the extra minutes, the calls started with other words that I don’t want to repeat because it’s a shame,’ said Kosovo captain Amir Rrahmani. 

‘I told the ref for the first time to listen to them. He did nothing. The second time he didn’t want to listen. After the third time I told him we are going out because this is so wrong. 

‘They have been aware because our Federation has made it clear to them to try to avoid this. The fans started even more after that with chants of ‘Kosova, Serbia’. That’s why we decided not to go out again as happened last year. UEFA must decide because we are footballers, we are here to represent our people, our country, which has a difficult past. 

‘A great war has taken people’s lives, there have been massacres. This is too much. Stop. Everyone should know that Kosovo is Kosovo or Kosovo is Albania. That’s it. This is where it ends.’

Footage from Romania-based football journalist Emanuel Rosu shows a confrontation between in the bowels of the National Arena in Bucharest.

There are shouts of ‘shame on you’ and one individual cries ‘you call us gypsy’, though it is unclear who it is directed at. 

Rosu also shares a photo of one dressing room being littered with pizza boxes, alleging that Kosovo’s stars gorged on their doughy snacks before making their minds up. 

It is not yet clear how UEFA will act based on the match.

As it was 0-0 in the dying moments of the game, it could be that they record the result as such. 

However, Kosovo’s walk-off may alternatively go down as a forfeit and a 3-0 defeat – or as a win by the same scoreline, if Romania are adjudged to have been at fault for the game’s abandonment. 

Mail Sport has contacted UEFA for comment.