FIFA opens disciplinary file against Serbia after incidents against Switzerland

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee announced on Monday the opening of a disciplinary file against the Serbian Football Federation after the incidents of the match against Switzerland, on December 2 at the World Cup Qatar 2022.

The investigation will address possible violations of articles 12 (player and official misconduct), 13 (discrimination) and 16 (order and security during matches) of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, the institution specified in a statement.

Inside the stadium, a call was made to “cease all discriminatory chants and gestures” at the request of FIFA, 20 minutes from the end of a very tense match that qualified Switzerland for the round of 16 (3-2 victory).

The players seemed at times to be about to come to blows. Swiss attacker Breel Embolo seemed very angry after arguing with Serbian players although he indicated after the match that there were no racist insults.

Granit Xhaka, captain of Swisswas recorded while he seemed to provoke the Serbian bench, directing him with a vulgar gesture.

It is not the first time that a match between Switzerland and Serbian gave rise to strong tensions.

In 2018, Switzerland had already beaten the Serbs 2-1 in a tense atmosphere, when Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri celebrated their goals by imitating the eagle on the Albanian flag with their hands, drawing the ire of Serbian.

The families of both players hail from Kosovo, a former province of Serbian independent since 2008 and with an Albanian majority, although Serbian it does not recognize this independence and considers Kosovo as part of its territory.

The two players were sanctioned by FIFA, paying a fine.

On Friday, Shaqiri scored again without making the eagle gesture this time but putting his finger to his mouth, in a gesture interpreted as telling the Serbian fans to shut up.

In the locker room during their match against Brazil, the Serbian players hung a flag of Serbian which included Kosovo, provoking the anger of the small Balkan country.

FIFA had already opened a disciplinary process against the federation serbia after this episode.