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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.

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo said in the press release on Monday that it was concerned to learn that a humanitarian match between Serbia’s Red Star and Kosovo’s Gracanica football teams has been disallowed by the Kosovo Football Federation. “In light of this and other recent cancelations of sporting events, the OSCE Mission wishes to reiterate the need for the separation of political considerations from sporting events and maintaining the spirit of sportsmanship in all disciplines,” the OSCE said.

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-Kosovo tensions have influenced sport. Belgrade was forced to cancel a planned match in March between the women’s junior handball teams from Serbia and Kosovo amid rising tensions and fears of clashes between Serbian fans and police.

One of the worst sport-related incidents happened in 2014, when a drone carrying a flag depicting a map of Greater Albania flew over the pitch during a match between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade.

Serbian authorities often advise the country’s sports players not to participate in ceremonies of receiving medals and awards if Kosovo players are involved.

Meanwhile, Serbian rightists have announced they will protest in Novi Sad if Kosovo karate players participate in the European championship.

The event will be held between May 9 and 13, but right-wingers have already announced that they will block roads in Novi Sad.

“We believe the state and the relevant ministries will act in accordance with the Constitution and prevent an unprecedented shame – that in Novi Sad the occupied part of the [national] territory [Kosovo] will be represented as a national team,” Mihailo Janjic on May 5 told the website of the far-right 1389 movement.

He said activists of this movement will block all main roads in Novi Sad between noon and 2pm on the day of the match.

“We will not burn and destroy our city, but we will show how 90 per cent of Novi Sad thinks about this shame,” he said.

The secretary of the Kosovo Karate Association, Nazim Gashi, told the media that there was no reason to raise tensions.

“This is a sport and I do not see any reason why our team, like all other selections, would not participate in the championship,” Gashi told Radio Television Kosovo, media reported on May 2.

Latest developents follow a rise in tensions between Serbia and Kosovo despite pressure for reconciliation by the EU. The arrest in Kosovo of the head of Serbian Office for Kosovo, Marko Djuric, in March, resulted in a frenetic diplomatic offensive by both countries.

This article was updated with a statement issued by the OSCE on Monday.

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