England's Euro 2024 opponents Serbia set to stay in tournament after threatening to pull out
It looks like Serbia are set to go back on their threat to quit the Euros this summer.
The country's football federation came out and claimed that they are ready to quit the tournament over anti-Serb chanting from Croatia and Albania fans.
Prior to their last-gasp 1-1 draw against Slovenia this afternoon (20 June), the side were at risk of threatening its footballing future.
Advert
The general secretary of the Serbian FA, Jovan Surbatovic, stated in a media interview that the country would withdraw from the Euro 2024 tournament if the Croatian and Albanian FAs were not sanctioned.
Their fans could reportedly be heard saying 'Kill, kill, kill the Serb' during their group B game.
In a statement via RTS released last night (originally published in Serbian) Surbatovic said: "First of all, I want to thank our fans for their support in the match against England and I hope we will beat Slovenia.
"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," after a Kosovan journalist made a nationalist eagle gesture towards Serbian fans.
He also said that they will possibly take action if UEFA does not punish the countries, as they had been punished for 'isolated cases' in the past despite them behaving 'much better than the others', according to him.
Pulling out of the tournament would have put the country at risk of being disqualified for Euro 2028, though one UEFA official told The Times that the Serbian FA never officially threatened to quit the Euros.
They stated: “I think this was a case of someone speaking to satisfy local populism.”
It is understood that UEFA were already in the process of bringing disciplinary proceedings against Croatia and Albania, prior to Surbatovic's claim.
Serbia were fined £12,250 after fans threw objects during their game against England last week.
The country will ultimately be glad that they didn't press ahead with their general secretary's claims, having claimed a last-minute draw against Slovenia in a dramatic group game.
Striker Luka Jović, who plays his club football for AC Milan, managed to get the last touch from a 95th minute corner, nabbing the equaliser against a stubborn Slovenia side.
At the time of writing, in Group C, England currently sit atop with three points, Slovenia has two points (after two games played), Serbia currently sits on one point (after two games played) and Denmark also have one point.
England and Denmark are set to face-off at 5pm this evening (20 June).
Joshua Nair