Thread by @DarioBrentin

Yesterday’s #SRBSUI game saw Switzerland progress to the last 16 of #Qatar2022 by defeating Serbia 3-2. Unfortunately, however, and unfortunately as expected, the game turned heated and ugly. Once again, it was politics not play, that defined the encounter on and off the pitch.🧵

The game had history. A lot of history. Maybe even too much history, considering they only played each other once before at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Read @JamesPiotr article in the @nytimes, you'll find no better: nytimes.com/2018/06/22/spo…

It was the "Eaglegate" game which saw Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka perform the so-called Albanian "eagle gesture" in a game of heightened tensions. A game they won 2-1, both goals scored by the two players with Kosovo-Albanian ties.

Xhaka's and Shaqiri's families are from Kosovo. Shaqiri was born there and his family fled to Switzerland as refugees. Xhaka was born in Switzerland, but his father spent three-and-a-half years as a political prisoner in former Yugoslavia: theguardian.com/football/2017/…

If you furthermore take into account the display of the "No Surrender" flag in the Serbian team's locker room only days earlies at #Qatar2022, and the subsequent media frenzy, it was hard not to expect any issues on and off the field:

https://twitter.com/DarioBrentin/status/1596090857978986497?s=20&t=cs7VbZD6-pRHTRb16DkFmQ

Already prior to the game, videos show skirmishes between the sets of fans in front of Doha's "Stadium 974". Any hopes the game might be less heated than in 2018 were eradicated at the latest when Shaqiri's name was read out to resounding boos and whistles from the Serbia fans.

In the stadium there were repeated derogatory chants aimed at Xhaka and Shaqiri, culminating in the disgusting chanting of "Kill, kill, kill, the Shiptar". "Shiptar" being an ethnic slur for Albanian. Not that there is a politically correct way to advocate for murder.

A video by @Mockneyrebel showing a fan being escorted out of the stands as she does the "eagle gesture" to the sounds of "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia" chants quickly went viral:

https://twitter.com/Mockneyrebel/status/1598771837177106468?s=20&t=0102m76eix_p5eGYSxFghQ

So did the clip showing Serbia’s team coach Dragan "Piksi" Stojković using the anti-Albanian slur whilst cussing, I mean celebrating, the Dušan Vlahović, which put Serbia temporarily up 2-1. I won't translate, but it involves mothers, female genitals and intercourse. Classy.

Since we are talking about toxic masculinities. @barneyronay called it a "game of cojones": theguardian.com/football/blog/…

After the game, celebrations of different sorts in cities you might not directly associate with the two countries who had been actually playing, Serbia and Switzerland. In Kosovo, people celebrated the victory of "their" team with motorcades & fireworks:

https://twitter.com/atillarx/status/1598785370656686080

In Vienna on the other hand, shameful and disturbing scenes: Serbian fans chanting "Kill! Slaugther! So that the Shiptar does not exist!". Austrian police are speaking of roughly 150 football fans who were blocking tram railways and throwing bottles at the police.

Back in Doha, Granit Xhaka put on the shirt of his Swiss compatriot Ardon Jashari (3rd Swiss player with Kosovar roots) backwards. The message clear to all Albanians. Jashari is (also) the last name of the founder of Kosovar Liberation Army, Adem Jashari, who was killed in 1998.

No time to provide a scholarly account or deeper context about all the underlying reasons behind yesterday's manifestations of chauvinism and hatred. Who has? But if interested in Kosovo-Serbia relations do follow people like @tschinderle, @enver_robelli, @fbieber, @bancroftian.