Serbia have protested to governing body UEFA over alleged hostile chants from Croatian and Albanian fans at a Euro 2024 match and have not ruled out withdrawing from the tournament.
Serbian FA secretary general Jovan Surbatovic told public radio RTS they will urge UEFA to sanction the Croatian and Albanian federations over the chants which allegedly occurred during the second half of their 2-2 draw on Wednesday in Hamburg.
"We are demanding sanctions from UEFA, ultimately at the cost of not continuing the European Championship," he said.
"We don't want to be involved in this, but if UEFA doesn't punish them, we will think about how to proceed."
UEFA has been approached for comment by dpa.
Surbatovic added that his FA was sanctioned over individual cases but insisted their fans have behaved much better than others overall.
"One fan was penalized for racist insults and we don't want this to be applied to others. We Serbs are gentlemen and open-hearted, so I appeal to the fans to remain gentlemen," he said.
UEFA on Wednesday fined the Serbian and Albanian FA €10,000 ($10,745) in connection with "provocative messages not fit for a sports event" by their fans.
English media reported that monkey noises were made in the direction of their players during their match against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday. The fan was not arrested or expelled from the stadium during England's 1-0 win, although stewards and police were present.
UEFA also confirmed to dpa that it has banned Kosovo's TV journalist Arlind Sadiku from the tournament after he made the controversial eagle sign during Serbia's game against England.
Kosovo, which has a majority of ethnic Albanians, unilaterally self proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008, a move which Serbia strongly rejects. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state.
The eagle sign represents the double-headed eagle of Albania's flag and it is a symbol of solidarity for all ethnic Albanians.
"It's a dangerous precedent. I haven't offended or provoked anyone. I'm just proud of the symbol that represents us," the journalist told Swiss newspaper Blick.
The eagle hand gesture had already caused a huge stir at the 2018 World Cup. Back then, it was shown by Switzerland players Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, both ethnic Albanian, after their goals in the 2-1 win against Serbia.
According to several media, the Serbian football federation reported this new incident to UEFA and demanded consequences. Sadiku pointed out that he had made the gesture in response to anti-Kosovo chants from Serbian supporters.
Serbia rescued a 1-1 draw with Slovenia earlier on Thursday to keep alive their hopes of advancing to the Euro 2024 knock-out stages.