Kosovo’s players argue with Romania’s players before leaving the pitch during the extra-time
Kosovo will definitely be in the draw to face the Republic of Ireland in a promotion/relegation playoff in the Nations League in the new year, after UEFA decided to punish both Romania and Kosovo for incidents in last Friday’s game between the two countries in Bucharest – but with the win awarded to Romania.
The game was level at 0-0 when the Kosovo players walked off the pitch in the final minute, in protest at what they said were racist chants from the home crowd in Bucharest, and after an hour’s delay the game was declared as abandoned by the match referee.
Without the final score from the abandoned game, Romania were still in first place in the group table, three points ahead of Kosovo, while Romania had a superior goal difference and it would have taken an extremely unlikely event, like Romania being hit with a points deduction, for Romania to lose top spot. UEFA had initially held back on confirming Romania as group winners with Kosovo as runners up, saying “Permutations to follow for Kosovo and Romania”.
Today, UEFA’s disciplinary committee handed down their verdicts on Friday’s events and they found against Kosovo, declaring that in not completing the game they had forfeited the match and a 3-0 win for Romania was recorded as the final score so Kosovo finish second in the group, six points behind Romania, and will enter the draw, along with Slovakia, Armenia and Bulgaria, to face four teams from League B – including Ireland – on Friday for that playoff.
Romania did not escape completely, however, as they were fined €125,000 and ordered to play their next home game behind closed doors after being found guilty of the “racist and/or discriminatory behaviour of its supporters”.