Serbia threaten to quit Euros amid 'kill the Serbs' chants - how could this affect England's group?

Serbia - who share a group with England - could be set to make a decision that could throw Euro 2024 into disarray. Following chants of ‘kill the Serbs’ from Croatia and Albania fans during their game on Wednesday afternoon, the Eagles have threatened to quit the tournament in protest.

The game was an entertaining one - Albania took the lead, only for Croatia to overturn the scores in under three minutes. Albania netted a dramatic last-minute equaliser - sadly, it is the behaviour of the fans in attendance which has captured the headlines.

Serbian FA General Secretary Jovan Surbatovic issued a statement, in which he said [via Mail Online]: “What happened is scandalous and we will ask UEFA for sanctions, even at the cost of not continuing the competition.

“We are sure that they will be punished, because they have already responded to our appeal to remove the so-called journalist from Albania from the championship.

“We will request UEFA to punish the federations of both selections. We don't want to participate in that, but if UEFA doesn't punish them, we will think about how to proceed.

“We were punished for the cases of fishing and our fans behaved much better than the others. One fan was fined for racist abuse and we don't want it to be attributed to others. We Serbs are gentlemen and we have an open heart, so I appeal to the fans to remain gentlemen.”

What do the ‘kill the Serbs’ chants relate to?

The ‘kill the Serbs’ chants originate from the Yugoslav wars, which took place from 1991 to 2001. The war, in which Serbia and Croatia were major players, resulted in the deaths of approximately 135,000 people - a further 4 million were displaced.

During the Croatian War of Independence, a estimated figure of 15,007 Croatians were reported dead or missing - many were killed by the Republic of Serbia Defence Forces, led by then-president Slobodan Milošević.