The two-headed eagle thing is actually a huge misunderstanding, says Milos Jovic (38) over an after-work beer in a hip bar in Belgrade. «Have you ever looked at the Serbian flag? It also has a two-headed eagle on it, just like the Albanian one.”
Both countries are said to have put the Eastern Roman Imperial symbol on their flags as early as the 19th century. Serbia and Albania. So when Granit Xhaka (30) or Xherdan Shaqiri (31) run around on the football field and imitate the two-headed eagle with their hands, he is as happy as a Serb, says Jovic from Belgrade. “Anyone who imitates the double-headed eagle is also indirectly showing us respect.”
It has been four years since the two Swiss internationals with Kosovar Albanian roots celebrated their goals with the double-headed eagle during the last World Cup match between Switzerland and Serbia. FIFA has issued warnings over the alleged nationalist provocation. The players seem cleansed. And yet: most Serbs don’t see the matter with the two-headed eagle as relaxed as Milos Jovic did for today’s new edition of the World Cup match between Switzerland and Serbia.
“Switzerland will have no reason to celebrate”
“It hurt what happened on the field in the last game,” says Iva Jevtic (21). Political gestures have no place on the field, says the young sports journalist from Belgrade. “I hope the players have learned their lesson.”
We would never find out if they really have, Nikola Preocanin, 35, shouts outside in the cold, damp Belgrade pedestrian zone in the winter wind. “You Swiss don’t score a goal against us. The world will never know exactly how your players would have cheered.” Serbia will win, then beat Portugal in the round of 16, “and then we’ll see,” says the football fan from Belgrade. Finally, he expresses his displeasure that Switzerland has even allows players of Albanian descent to play in their national team.
Such nationalistic views are not uncommon among Serbian football fans. The supporters of Red Star Belgrade in particular would like to allow themselves to be exploited by the Serbian government and abused for political campaigns. The wildest rumors are circulating in Belgrade football circles about links between the Serbian government and the capital’s violent supporters.
Ban on football for all peoples in the Balkans?
You shouldn’t believe all that, says Belgrade artist Jana Danilovic (33). Despite this, football has not brought much good to her country so far. “The peoples of the Balkans should not be allowed to play football for at least 50 years. They have to solve their real problems before they can kick a ball again and only create new tensions,” says Danilovic.
She has just completed a new piece of street art: she has painted a huge industrial silo on the banks of the filthy Danube, one of Belgrade’s two city rivers. It shows a woman hugging the contaminated fish from the river. “We have plenty of real problems here that can be addressed,” says Danilovic.
For the time being, however, the round leather dominates the talk of the day in the Serbian metropolis. There are also no public viewings or fan zones here. In every café, no matter how chic, the World Cup matches flicker on big screens. “The whole country is cheering for the new Serbian attacking football that has fascinated us,” said Vladimir Filipovic (33). Filipovic has been leading the sports section of “Blic”, the country’s largest news platform, for almost a year now. Before that, the journalist provided international political stories at “Blic”. The perfect conversation partner for tonight’s politically charged World Cup match.
«The Swiss national team is like an army»
But Filipovic does not believe that the match between Switzerland and Serbia will degenerate again. “Half of our team belongs to Generation Z. They weren’t even born during the Kosovo war in the late 1990s. They have no interest in getting into these old disputes,” says Filipovic. In addition, Serbia has made huge strides under the new trainer Dragan Stojkovic (57). “We now want to be happy with sporting successes instead of being distracted by the political background noise.”
But that would be difficult against Switzerland, says Filipovic. “Your team is like a small army: extremely compact, well-networked, well-organized. And Murat Yakin (48) has now given her an extra boost of motivation. It’s going to be a hard nut for us.”
Tonight at 10pm we’ll know if Serbia has cracked it or if Switzerland continues its World Cup run – with or without the two-headed eagle.
Samuel Schumacher
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
