The Albanian Football Federation issued a statement condemning a racist banner that appeared at a football match which read: “A Greek dead, one less bastard”. According to Himara.gr, the governing football body in Albania distanced itself from the act, adding such actions would not be allowed to spoil the beauty of Albanian football.

“The Albanian Football Federation expresses its deep concern and distances itself from the incident during the Partizan Tirana Skenderbey Korce match over the slogan that was unfolded at the start of the match in the stands of Partizani fans with a clearly unacceptable racist slogan.”

As Himara.gr reports, the Federation strongly condemned the language and the disturbed mind of those who were mixing football with racism or pseudo-nationalism. “It reassures public opinion and true fans that our stadiums will never become areas of conflict and hatred, but will remain places where the spirit of solidarity, life, and love for football prevails.”

The banner appeared following the murder of Konstantinos Katsifas by Albanian special forces on Sunday, which led to a barrage of inflammatory media reports.