Foot – SER – Serbia: Red Star Belgrade banned from entry to Kosovo

SER

The Serbian champion could not enter Kosovo where he had to play a Cup match against Trepca, a local Serb team.

Trepca, a Serbian-based Kosovo formation, was to receive Red Star Belgrade in the sixteenth-finals of the Serbian Cup. But, as announced by the Kosovar authorities, the Red Star bus was turned back at the Jarinje border crossing, where a large police force was deployed. And so was unable to enter Kosovo, whose independence proclaimed in 2008 is not recognized by Serbia.

The match played Thursday in Belgrade

"We were banned from entering despite FIFA's recommendations to allow the match to take place. The institutions of Kosovo have remained deaf to this recommendation ", said Zvezdan Terzic, director of the Red Star, Serbian National Television (RTS). The match will be played Thursday in Belgrade, he said.

The latter was all the more surprised by the decision of the Kosovar authorities that the Trepca club is playing its Serbian Championship matches in the city of Mitrovica, in Kosovar territory.

Explaining the decision of the Kosovar Federation, Secretary General Erold Salihu said that"There have never been competitions" in Kosovo overseen by the Serbian Federation. "We will always allow the arrival of the Red Star or Partizan for friendly or humanitarian matches" but not for official competitions, said Erold Salihu quoted on the RTS website.