Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri are likely to face punishment for their use of an Albanian nationalist symbol to celebrate their goals in Switzerland’s dramatic 2-1 World Cup win over Serbia on Friday.
The duo are ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, where a Serbian crackdown on the Albanian population only ended with Nato military intervention in 1999.
They made ‘double eagle’ gestures after scoring, symbolising the Albanian flag.
The celebrations run the risk of raising 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.
In addition, a preliminary investigation has been established against the coach of the Serbian national team, Mladen Krstajic, for alleged statements made in the aftermath of the said match.