Rising Serbia-Kosovo Tension Damages Sporting Contacts

After the Kosovo Football Federation banned a matched between the Serbian club Red Star and Gracanica, in central Kosovo, Serbian right-wingers have announced they will block roads in the Serbian city of Novi Sad if Kosovo karate players take part there in the upcoming European championship.

The Football Federation of Kosovo rejected a request by Red Star to play a humanitarian match in the mainly ethnic Serbian town of Gracanica on May 9, the head of the Federation, Fadil Vokrri, told the media on Monday.

"For two years, we gave permission for the match, but this [year] we will not because at the last game things happened that do not belong to sport. There were offensive messages and that's why we have rejected Red Star's request. We have also informed UEFA that there will be no match," Vokrri told the Koha Ditore daily.

In his reaction, Gracanica Mayor Srdjan Popovic said he had sent a protest letter to all the embassies in Pristina, but also to OSCE and UEFA, calling the decision "discriminatory and politically inspired".

Kosovo proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008, having de facto broken away in 1999 as a result of NATO's air war on Serbia.

Most Western countries, including the US, recognised Kosovo long ago, but Kosovo's statehood is still bitterly contested Serbia and Russia, among others.

On May 23, 2017, Red Star played a humanitarian match against the football club Gracanica for the third year in a row. Money from tickets was donated to a local hospital. Serbian players also visited the nearby Gracanica monastery.

But Vokrri told the media that the sound of Serbian fans cheering "Kosovo is Serbia" at the 2017 game had been offensive.

This is not first time Serbia...