"New Serbia-Albania match to be played on neutral ground"

"New Serbia-Albania match to be played on neutral ground"

BELGRADE -- The abandoned European championship qualifier between Serbia and Albania will most likely be played again on neutral ground.

This is what the Belgrade-based daily Večernje Novosti said it learned from a source close to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

The paper reported in its Friday issue that if UEFA decides that a new match will be played between Serbia and Albania, it would start from scratch, and not from 41st minute when the match was abandoned because of the incidents.

According to the daily's findings, UEFA is most likely to decide that the two national teams should meet in completely different circumstances, without audience, so as to reduce the room for new incidents to a minimum.

UEFA opened disciplinary proceedings against the football associations of both Serbia and Albania, and confirmed earlier on Friday that the decision on the outcome of the match and possible punishments will be delivered by its three-member commission on October 23.

The Football Association of Serbia has faced the proceedings for the setting off/throwing of fireworks and missiles, crowd disturbance, field invasion by supporters, insufficient organization and use of a laser pointer, and the Football Association of Albania for refusing to play and the display of an illicit banner.

The European championship qualifier between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade on Tuesday was abandoned after a brawl that followed the appearance of a drone with a banner depicting the so-called Greater Albania, a nationalist project that would include parts of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Greece.

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