Police in Kosovo have arrested eight Czech football supporters who were apparently planning to fly a drone with a pro-Serbia banner during Saturday’s Euro 2020 qualifier between Kosovo and the Czech Republic.

The Czech FA has said that six men and two women were arrested near the Kosovan capital of Pristina, where the game is taking place. Local police seized a drone, a Serbian flag and a banner that read “Kosovo is Serbia”, as well as fireworks and a knife, from two cars with Czech licence plates.

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The Czech foreign ministry confirmed the arrests took place on Friday and all eight people, one of whom also has Serbian citizenship, were released early on Saturday. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 but the Serbian government has refused to recognise the new country’s sovereign status.

There are tight security measures around the stadium in the buildup to the match, which starts at 3pm local time (2pm BST). Fans can bring flags to the Group A game but many other objects are prohibited.

An online group for Kosovo supporters, known as Dardanet, has called on supporters to show “maturity and self-restraint”, adding: “Any potential incident would harm Kosovo.”

Kosovo’s population is substantially Albanian. In October 2014, a Euro 2016 qualifier between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade was abandoned after a drone was flown above the pitch. The drone was carrying a flag that labelled Kosovo part of “Greater Albania”, and sparked a mass brawl between players. Albania were eventually awarded a 3-0 default win.



In the match, Kosovo recovered from going a goal behind to beat Czech Republic 2-1. Patrick Schick opened the scoring when he finished off a fine move but Vedat Muriqi cancelled that out four minutes later and Mërgim Vojvoda completed the turnaround.

Victory meant that Kosovo leapfrogged Czech Republic and briefly topped Group A before England returned to the top by beating Bulgaria at Wembley. The win still gives Kosovo the edge over their opponents in what looks a two-horse race for the second qualifying spot.