Why the eagle? And why was there a backlash from FIFA, the organizer of the World Cup?

After scoring two goals against Serbia, Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, two Kosovar Albanian players on the Swiss national soccer team, celebrated by making a gesture of the Albanian eagle. FIFA announced it would fine the two Albanian players and their Swiss team captain $10,100 for the celebratory gestures, which it deemed unsporting behavior.

During the same game, Serbian fans booed the Albanian players and wore T-shirts with pictures of Ratko Mladic, the “butcher of Bosnia,” who was convicted of genocide by an international criminal tribunal. In a separate judgment, the World Cup organization fined the Serbian soccer federation $54,700 for its fans’ “display of discriminatory banners and messages.”

While the Mladic image may be self-explanatory, the larger significance of the hand signal of the Albanian eagle, which sits on the Albanian flag and denotes “Albania” in international sign language, warrants more explanation.

Yes, there are political rivalries at the World Cup

The FIFA decision might seem a typical Balkan affair. In 2014, a riot broke out during a soccer match between Serbia and Albania when a fan flew a drone over the stadium carrying the insignia of greater Albania — which included the eagle. As journalist Aleks Eror noted in a recent discussion of the Switzerland game, there are many historical realities at play for everyone involved in that World Cup match.

Serbs and Albanians, and certainly Serbs and Kosovar Albanians, have a complicated relationship and a long history of conflict — particularly over Kosovo, which Serbians view as the cradle of Serbian civilization. Dating to the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Balkan people, the province has assumed a central role in the construction of Serbian national identity — in part through oral and later written epic poetry.

This long history reemerged in Yugoslavia’s ethnic conflicts in the 1980s after years of peaceful coexistence during Josip Broz Tito’s regime. Serbian politician Slobodan Milosevic launched his career through a nationalist platform that instrumentalized the battle mythology to strip the predominantly Albanian Kosovo of its autonomous status.

After Yugoslavia broke apart, significant human casualties on both sides during the late 1990s and early 2000s brought the conflict to a boiling point. Serbia still does not officially recognize Kosovo’s independence, though the Brussels Agreement of 2013 was a step in normalizing relations.

From this perspective, the game between Serbia and Switzerland — a team with four Albanians on the roster — was marked by the long and complicated history of ethnic tensions. The history of trauma and violence is painful on both sides, but the Albanian eagle hand symbols don’t quite stack up to the fans’ decision to wear Mladic T-shirts.

It’s all about the eagle for Albania

Albania, a small country of more than 3 million people, has existed as a political entity for a little over 100 years. During some 500 years of Ottoman occupation and even now, the eagle was not an aggressive or violent symbol. Perhaps to a minority, the eagle symbolizes radical nationalism and notions of greater Albania. During the 2014 drone incident, the eagle had been placed on a distorted red background that signified greater Albania.

But to most Albanians, the eagle — shqiponja — simply encapsulates their national flag and identity, and Albania is the “land of eagles.” The modern Albanian word for “Albania” is “Shqipëri” — and the word for “Albanians” is “Shqiptar.” Although the linguistic ties may be coincidental, Albanians construe the link as authentic and see the eagle as a consistent symbol representing the Albanian people — dating from the 11th century.

Here’s an example. When Albanian national hero George Kastrioti Skanderbeg fought against the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century, he carried a banner with the two-headed eagle to unite his people. The eagle, with its two heads, serves as that one token of identity inclusive enough to represent a diverse population of Muslims and Orthodox and Catholic Christians.

Given the multi-faith demographic makeup of the country, not many other symbols could serve as unifying identity markers. To Albanians, the eagle denotes pride, heroism, strength and, ultimately, their ability as a people to survive historical calamities — of which there have been many.

For Albanians, the eagle is a proud historical symbol

Different political factions have sought to appropriate the eagle, usually by forcing symbols between the two eagle heads. When Italy invaded Albania during World War II, the regime of Benito Mussolini placed a crown on top of the eagle.

Most notably, the 40-year postwar communist regime of Enver Hoxha adorned the eagle with a star. Yet these ideological and political symbols have always fallen by the wayside, seen by Albanians as misguided attempts to co-opt their identity — and violate the eagle’s unifying neutrality with an ideological message.

Political and economic instability, beginning in the 1990s, led to high rates of emigration. Close to 20 percent of Albania’s population left the country — and many headed to Switzerland, Germany and other destinations, including the United States. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians fled Kosovo in 1999 to escape ethnic conflict, followed by subsequent waves of emigrants seeking to escape poverty.

For those abroad, like Xhaka and Shaqiri, who face cultural loss in the process of integration in adopted countries, the eagle often remains the only visible trace of their Albanian identity. In Swiss uniforms, while celebrating with the Albanian eagle, the two players embody immigrant identity and self-expression — with its hybridity, historical references and mishmash of allegiances.

Source: Washington Post
Editors’ note: The post has been updated to reflect that there are four Albanian players on the Swiss national team. Ani Kokobobo is an associate professor in the Slavic Department at the University of Kansas. Follow her on Twitter @ani_kokobobo.

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Last year, Kosovar police arrested 19 people – including the nine charged on Wednesday – on suspicion that they had links with the Islamic State militant group and were planning attacks in Kosovo and neighboring Albania.

At the time, fearing such attacks, Albanian authorities moved the Nov. 12 qualifier to a venue near the capital Tirana from a stadium in the northern town of Shkoder.

The state prosecutor said some of the nine men charged were in contact with Lavdrim Muhaxheri, a prominent Islamic State member and the self-declared \”commander of Albanians in Syria and Iraq\” from whom they received orders to attack. Police and family members told Reuters last week that Muhaxheri has been killed in Syria.

The group was also planning to launch attacks inside Kosovo against local and international institutions and buy weapons with money received from Muhaxheri, the prosecutor said.

NATO has around 4,500 soldiers in Kosovo helping to keep a fragile peace. The European Union and the United Nations also have security and diplomatic missions in Kosovo.

The prosecution said the defendants took orders from Muhaxheri and planned to attack and destabilize \”the countries in the Balkans and then create their territory of the Islamic State\”.

One of the defendants had kept in his basement 283 grams of self-made triacetone triperoxide (TATP) explosives. The same explosive was used in attacks in Paris and Brussels and was found in a series of foiled bombings in Europe since 2007.

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At a news conference on Wednesday, an emotional De Biasi announced he would leave immediately and read out a letter in which he said he \”thought long and hard\” about his decision but is leaving for \”the good and growth of our team.\”

De Biasi, who turns 61 on Friday, has been in charge of Albania for the past six years and obtained Albanian citizenship in 2015. He achieved history with the team by leading it to Euro 2016, where it finished third in its group after beating Romania and losing to Switzerland and France.

Albania is third in its qualification group for the 2018 World Cup, seven points below Spain and Italy, with four matches remaining.

Source; Associated Press

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A show on private television Top Channel, Fiks Fare, broadcast a phone call of a person trying to bribe a Patizani player before the team played Kukesi last week. Both clubs were at the top of the league with equal points. The match in Tirana ended 1-1.

A federation statement on Friday \”strongly denounced\” the bribe and called on the Partizani club to go the authorities. It also said the person offering the bribe had no links with any club, the association or Albanian football.

\”The football federation is set in its fight to protect the purity of the game from persons or group of persons,\” the federation said in the statement. \”Together we may contribute to totally eliminate such phenomena, very harmful for the game and the integrity of the game.\”

Partizani hailed the federation\’s reaction and said it would go to the authorities. It also called on the federation \”to act through its commissions, to show its will in a case which serves all of us and not to step aside and make distancing statements.\” In their reaction on Facebook, the club did not mention whether it had taken any step against the player, or if he had cooperated.

Kukesi also denounced the act and said that the person offering the bribe had no direct links to the club.The club said it considered such match-fixing attempts \”unacceptable,\” adding that \”they encourage the proper authorities to do their job and we shall be at their disposal to clarify such a case.\”

\”We were attacked due to our history but we are proud that in our successful history Kukesi has never been spoiled in such cases which are a shame for Albanian soccer,\” the club said in a statement.

Another Albanian club, Skenderbeu, has been banned by UEFA for a year for fixing matches.

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The flag depicts Albania expanded to include parts of neighboring countries.

Macedonian daily Vecer is reporting that \”a similar drone\” more than two years ago caused a match played between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade to be suspended.

The VMRO-DPMNE party issued a statement in the wake of the Skopje incident, saying that \”statements and actions\” of SDSM leader Zoran Zaev have \”contributed to greater appetites and Albanian irredentism\” in the region.

The stateemnt describes Zaev as \”the cause of the outporing of chauvinism and irredentism, with the goal of undermining Macedonia\’s statehood,\” the MIA agency said.

Source: B92

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In the battle for the overall title, Caja Rural\’s Jaime Roson found himself on the wrong side of a small split during the sprint, allowing Astana\’s Vinceno Nibali to leapfrog him on GC and take over control of the leader\’s jersey. Coming into the day five seconds down, the Italian now leads the Spaniard by two seconds.

A day after his Bardiani squad delivered him perfectly for a bunch sprint victory, Ruffoni again attributed the stage win to his teammates following Friday\’s more hectic finale.

\”The most uncertain moment during the race was at five kilometres to the finish. Narrow and tricky roads, the breakaway one minute in front of us but no chance to see them. On the long straight at four kilometres to go we put the escapees in our sights but the catch seemed hard,\” he said. \”[Mirco] Maestri did a strong effort leading with other sprinters\’ team. I relied on [Nicola] Boem and [Paolo] Simion for the sprint and they did again an amazing job. Nicola kept us in front while Paolo was great driving me in the bagarre of the last kilometre.\”

Marangoni, Johannes Schinnagel (Team Felbermayr – Simplon Wels), Daniel Turek (Israel Cycling Academy) and Antonio Di Sante (GM Europa Ovini) jumped clear of the peloton around 20 kilometres after the pack set out from Crikvenica for the 171km stage 4. The escapees were given a bit of space, with a gap growing out to around four minutes. With a flat finish on tap, however, several teams were interested in keeping the move under control to set up a potential sprint finish.

With Roson wearing the leader\’s jersey, Caja Rural did much of the early pace-setting to keep the gap to the break steady at or around four minutes for an hour or so.

With around 40 kilometres to go, the peloton began to eat into the breakers\’ advantage, with Trek-Segafredo, Bahrain-Merida, Bardiani CSF and Astana pitching in at the front. The four riders up the road worked well together, but the gap was down to two minutes with 25 kilometres left to race.

The breakers took a little over a minute into the final 15 kilometres, but then the chase stalled ever so slightly, giving the quartet off the front a bit of hope at staying clear all the way to the line. With the gap at 25 seconds at five kilometres to go, it was still anyone\’s game.

The difference was just 10 seconds with two kilometres to go, which spurred Marangoni to push clear from the break and attempt a solo victory. The other three were caught, but Marangoni passed under the flamme rouge banner still clinging to a small gap.

A charging peloton would not be denied, however. Winding up to full speed, the sprinters rapidly closed down Marangoni\’s small advantage on the finishing straight. Ruffoni led the charge as the quick men swallowed up Marangoni in the final moments of the stage, and the Bardiani rider held on ahead of the other sprinters to cross the line first for the second day in a row.

\”I\’m not a sprinter who likes long progression and I knew could be a risk,\” said Ruffoni of leading the sprint from 250 metres out. \”The road was going little downhill in the finale, Marangoni was still on the front but I was sure I could catch him. On the other side, I was worried for riders behind me and their return. Well, today I\’ve been rewarded for my audacity … if you want to win a sprint, you need this as well.\”

Source: CyclingNews.com

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The palm of the quicker movement being attributed to Krasniqi for having thrown Tas for ippon in just 10 seconds.

Gili Cohen, winner of the 2016 Baku Grand Slam, and number one seeded competitor of the day, also confirmed the good form of the Israeli judo team by pushing the door of the final. After a first-round win by a waza-ari against Nazakat Azizova (AZE), Cohen eliminated Diyora Keldiyorova (UZB) in the semi-final with a clear ippon.

In less than a minute, Krasniqi had already scored a waza-ari after she blocked one of Cohen’s attacks and countered her. She then scored again with a sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi for a second waza-ari. Never in danger, Krasniqi controlled until the end of the match to secure the gold medal.

Turkey had a chance of medal with Merve Tas who was opposed to Nazakat Azizova (AZE) in the first bronze medal contest. But Azizova did not give a single chance to Tas, who despite the support of her public was immobilized by the Azeri for ippon and a first medal on a Grand Prix.

The second Israeli athlete of the category was also present in the final block as Ariel Bezalel faced Diyora Keldiyorova (UZB) for a spot on the podium. As nothing was scored, both athletes entered the golden score. Ariel Bezalel finally won after Keldiyorova was penalised a with a second shido.

Source: JudoInside.com  

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TIRANA, Albania — Albania\’s soccer federation has strongly denounced the incident that halted the World Cup Group G qualifier with Italy for nearly nine minutes on Saturday.

During the match, which was won by Italy 2-0, a group calling itself Illyrian Elite threw flares onto the pitch.

\”Such totally extremist actions from the grouping Illyrian Elite have nothing to do with the excellent Albanian fans\” who were distinguished in the Euro 2016 finals in France for their friendship and camaraderie in their festivities, the statement added.

The federation said an coach Gianni De Biasi also was \”upset by the flares,\” adding that during five years he has been in charge \”I\’ve seen something that\’s never happened before.\”

AP

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The Albanian football federation have released a public apology and banned the fan group that forced their World Cup qualifier with Italy to be suspended.

During a period in the second half, the referee had to call the teams off the field because a series of fireworks, flares and smoke-bombs were raining down.

They were all coming from a small group in the Albania section of the stands at the Stadio Barbera in Palermo and the suspension lasted nine minutes.

The Albanian Federation released a statement firmly condemning the incidents and apologising to “the teams, our colleagues, fans and all Italian citizens.

“We completely dissociate ourselves from this unacceptable behaviour.”

Above all, it noted the particular fan group will be held accountable and no longer allowed any tickets to Albania matches.

Italy eventually won the match 2-0 with goals from Daniele De Rossi and Ciro Immobile.

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A Daniele De Rossi penalty and Ciro Immobile header gave Italy three points in Group G as their veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon made his 1,000th senior appearance.

– Reuters

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