Serbia's recent threat to pull out of Euro 2024 will have big implications for England and the other teams in the competition.
The Balkan side - who lost out to England by 1-0 in their Euro opener last Sunday (16 June) - has today (20 June) threatened to leave the competition.
General Secretary of the Football Association of Serbia, Jovan Surbatovic, claims that during yesterday's (19 June) game against Croatia and Albania, fans chanted derogatory phrase 'kill, kill, kill the Serb' during the 59th minute.
Advert
"First of all, I want to thank our fans for their support in the match against England and I hope we will beat Slovenia," he said in a translated statement to RTS.
"What happened is scandalous and we will ask UEFA for sanctions, even if it means not continuing the competition.
"We are sure that they will be punished, because they have already responded to our appeal to remove the so-called journalist from Albania from the championship."
Serbia are set to face off against Slovenia at 2pm (UK time) today, as other group C teams England and Denmark will play at 5pm.
What happens if Serbia pull out of Euro 2024?
Advert
According to UEFA, if a national team decides to pull out during the competition, 'the results of all of its matches are declared null and void, and the points awarded forfeited'.
Serbia will also lose 'all rights to payments from UEFA'. If there is a 'reasoned and well-documented' reason for the side to pull out of the competition, the team will be set an 'amount of compensation due for financial loss'.
What will it mean for England and the other teams?
Serbia's withdrawal during the tournament would create significant disruption for UEFA and the group standings would need to be recalculated.
For the last game of the group, Denmark would be handed an automatic 3-0 victory.
Advert
And this would leave an uneven number of teams in the competition, potentially requiring a new schedule to be created for the remaining fixtures.
Teams in Serbia's group may also be given extra rest time without the need to play an extra game.
But because England has already played Serbia, this would not apply to them.
Fans who had tickets for Serbia's matches would most likely need to be refunded or reallocated to other matches, but this is yet to be confirmed by UEFA.
Advert
LADbible has contacted UEFA for comment.
England's remaining Euro 2024 group stage fixtures
Thursday, 20 June - Group C: Denmark vs England (Waldstadion, Frankfurt - kick-off 5pm BST)
Tuesday, 25 June - Group C: England vs Slovenia (RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne - kick-off 8pm BST)
Anish Vij