Switzerland pair Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka could both be punished after their celebrations in a dramatic 2-1 win over Serbia at the World Cup.
The Stoke City winger and Arsenal midfielder scored the goals in the come-from-behind victory in Kaliningrad, after Aleksandar Mitrovic had headed the Serbs into the lead.
The duo, both of Kosovar-Albanian heritage, are believed to have used an Albanian nationalist symbol to celebrate their goals.
Xhaka, whose father was imprisoned in the former Yugoslavia after protesting for Kosovan independence, celebrated his stunning second-half equaliser by locking his open hands together at the thumbs and ‘flapping’ his fingers.
The gesture resembles – and is understood to be a reference to – the two-headed eagle on Albania’s national flag.
Jovan Surbatovic, the general secretary of the Football Association of Serbia, said on Saturday that the organisation intends to write a complaint to FIFA regarding the matter.
Shaqiri, who was born in Kosovo and plays with the Kosovan flag stitched into his right boot with the Swiss flag on his left, celebrated in the same manner after scoring a 90th-minute winner.
The celebrations run the risk of inflaming tensions between ethnic Albanians and nationalist Serbs in Kosovo and beyond.
Kosovo’s Albanian-majority political institutions declared independence from Serbia in 2008. A decade on, Serbia still does not recognise Kosovo’s independence.
Xhaka and Shaqiri could face punishment from football’s governing body FIFA, if their celebrations are deemed to be displays of political symbols.
Shaqiri put his reaction to his late winner down to emotion. “I think in football you have always emotions,” the 26-year-old said.
“You can see what I did and I think it’s just emotion. I’m very happy to score this goal. It’s not more. I think we don’t have to speak about this now.”
Vladimir Petkovic, Switzerland’s Bosnian-born head coach, suggested his players were caught in the heat of the moment and hoped the celebrations would not detract from his side’s victory.
“You should never mix politics and football. It’s clear that emotions show up and that’s how things happen,” he said.
“I think we all together need to steer away from politics in football and we should focus on this sport as a beautiful game and something that brings people together.”
