Serbia will host Albania for the first time in over a decade, after their last meeting ended with police rioting around the pitch and the match being called off in the first half.
Both countries were together in group K of the World Cup qualifiers along England, Latvia and Andorra.
UEFA has a short list of “banned clashes” between nations that cannot be compiled for political reasons. In the event of this tie, this meant that Belarus could not draw with Ukraine, Gibraltar could not draw with Spain, and Kosovo would not be linked to either Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Serbia and Albania drew together ten years after a brawl led to the match being abandoned
However, Serbia and Albania are not on the list despite their long, complex and largely difficult relationship after decades of political tensions.
Matters came to a head on the football pitch during the Euro 2016 qualifiers in 2014 after a drone carrying a flag with Albanian national symbols flew over the pitch. The melee between the two groups of players started after Serbia defender Stefan Mitrovic jumped to lower the flag.
During the brawl, many Serbian fans entered the pitch, which turned it into a brawl four Albanian players suffered minor injuries. Albania also claimed that its players were attacked by stewards and police, which Serbian officials denied.
This led to English referee Martin Atkinson suspending the match and police being deployed around the pitch.
Half an hour later, the match was abandoned with the score 0-0, and UEFA initially awarded Serbia a 3-0 walkover victory, but also deprived them of three points and imposed an order to play two matches behind closed doors. Both parties were fined €100,000.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport then overturned the walkover win on appeal, awarding Albania a 3-0 victory instead. The remainder of the UEFA penalties were upheld.
Serbian fans were refused permission to attend the second leg in Albania the following year.
Serbia won 2-0 thanks to two stoppage-time goals, but the result proved to be inconsequential for both sides as Albania automatically qualified for Euro 2016, while Serbia failed to even make the play-offs.
The exact dates of the above-mentioned Qualifications for the 2026 World Cup the matches have not been announced yet, but qualifying matches will be played in March, June, September, October and November 2025.
