Albania v Serbia background
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Article summary
Guaranteed at least a play-off spot, Albania will hope victory at home to Serbia can strengthen their case for a top-two finish in Group I and a direct route to France.
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Already certain of at least a play-off place, Albania will hope that a victory at home against Serbia can strengthen their case for a top-two finish in Group I – and a direct route to their first finals.
• Albania have an inferior head-to-head record in the event that they finish level on points with Denmark.
• Albania will thus have to settle for their current third position if they fail to overcome Serbia and the second-placed Danes beat Portugal.
• Albania and Portugal have an identical head-to-head record in the event that the two sides finish level on points.
Previous meetings
• The teams' opening Group I meeting in Belgrade on 14 October 2014 was abandoned and the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body subsequently awarded a 3-0 forfeit win to Serbia, who were then deducted the three points. The UEFA Appeals Body upheld the decision on 3 December 2014.
• A subsequent ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on 10 July 2015 overturned the decision, awarding a 3-0 forfeit victory to Albania who moved onto ten points in Group I.
• That was the nations' first encounter in their present form, though Yugoslavia twice beat Albania in 1968 UEFA European Championship qualifying.
Form guide
• Albania's five-game unbeaten run in Group I (W3 D2) was curtailed with a 1-0 home loss to Portugal last time out.
• In addition to those competitive matches, Albania also scalped UEFA EURO 2016 hosts France 1-0 in Elbasan on 13 June.
• Serbia picked up their first victory in the section – 2-0 against Armenia in Novi Sad – on the day Albania's unbeaten sequence ended.
Disciplinary
• Amir Abrashi, Ansi Agolli, Burim Kukeli and Taulant Xhaka will incur a suspension with their next yellow cards.
• Branislav Ivanović and Aleksandar Kolarov are both a booking away from a ban.
Trivia and links
• Albania have never qualified for a major final tournament.
• Albanian and Serbian clubs have met in four UEFA competition fixtures. In fact, the two countries' clubs have identical records (W1 D2 L1), though the Albanian team was victorious in both ties: Flamurtari edged Partizan 3-2 on aggregate in the 1987/88 UEFA Cup first round; away goals then proved the difference as Besa got the better of Bežanija in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup.
