After football’s world governing body FIFA fined two Swiss players of Kosovo origin for making an Albanian ‘eagle’ hand gesture when they scored against Serbia, some Kosovo Albanians, including senior officials, offered to pay.
Gani Dreshaj, an MP from Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj’s Alliance for the Future of Kosovo party, said on Monday tha he is willing to pay the fines handed down to Switzerland players Swiss footballers Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri.
Dreshaj expressed solidarity with the two players who were fined by FIFA on Monday for celebrating their goals against Serbia in the World Cup with a double-headed eagle hand gesture symbolising the Albanian flag.
“I have the greatest desire to pay this fine, but I know that their successes in football have also given them the opportunity to have stable financial resources. So each time they make the eagle [gesture], I’m telling them that I take full responsibility for paying the fines imposed by FIFA,” Dreshaj wrote on Facebook.
Trade and Industry Minister Bajram Hasanialso offered to contribute to paying the penalties imposed by FIFA.
“Not that they do not have the financial opportunities to pay such fines, but the feeling of pride they gave us with their goals [against Serbia] makes me feel obliged to give one of my wages [payments] to pay off these fines,” he wrote on Facebook.
Hasani criticised the FIFA Disciplinary Committee decision, insisting that the two players “were only fined because they didn’t forget their roots”.
An Albanian living in New York, Rilind Reka, has also launched a gofundme campaign, calling on Albanians to contribute to paying the fines. By midnight on Monday, he had collected around $6,500 in pledges.
Xhaka and Shaqiri, who are both ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, were fined 10,000 Swiss francs (8,600 euros) each by FIFA for making the hand gestures.
Swiss captain Stephan Lichsteiner was also fined 5,000 Swiss francs (4,300 euros) for joining in their goal celebrations.
Switzerland, which has a number of players of Balkan origin in its national team, beat Serbia 2-1 on June 22, leaving Serbia needing a win against Brazil to advance from the group stages of the World Cup in Russia.
The Serbian Football Federation was fined 54,000 Swiss francs (46,700 euros) for what FIFA called the “discriminatory banners” displayed by its fans, and for objects they threw during the game.
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