CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: Serbia and Albania are set to co-host the men’s Under-21 European Championship in 2027 in a football project that aims to overcome political tensions.
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) said Thursday only the Serbia-Albania bid met a deadline this week to file detailed tournament plans.
Belgium and Turkey had declared interest earlier in the bidding process scheduled to be decided at a December 16 meeting of the UEFA executive committee.
The Serbian and Albanian football federations teamed up in May to plan organization of the 16-team tournament played every two years that needs eight stadiums to host 31 games.
Albania football federation leader Armand Duka, a UEFA vice president, told The Associated Press in May that it’s a 100% football project with “a very good political message that we can get across.”
Weeks later at the men’s European Championship held in Germany, historic tensions between the Balkan countries which in football included a notorious drone incident at a Serbia-Albania game in 2014 played out at separate games involving their senior teams.
An Albania player was banned from games by UEFA for using a megaphone to join fans in nationalist chants, including targeting Serbia, after a Euro 2024 game against Croatia. Fans of Albania and Croatia earlier joined in anti-Serb chants, leading UEFA to impose fines for discrimination.
