Serbia want Swiss pair punished over goal salutes

Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri were last night facing punishment for their Albanian eagle salutes in Switzerland’s World Cup victory over Serbia.

Fifa announced it had opened disciplinary proceedings against the players following a complaint from the Football Association of Serbia (FSS) about their goal celebrations during Friday night’s dramatic Group E game in Kaliningrad.

The FSS also said it would lodge a formal protest about Shaqiri’s boots, which bear the flag of Kosovo – although they had already been cleared by Fifa – and the display of “several controversial flags” by their opponents.

As well as the action against Xhaka and Shaqiri, proceedings were opened against the FSS itself for crowd disturbances and the display of political and offensive messages by Serbia fans, days after it was fined for a similar offence in their game against Costa Rica.

A preliminary investigation was opened against the team’s manager, Mladen Krstajic, for alleged statements made in the aftermath of the Switzerland match.

Fifa could not be reached for comment on whether Xhaka and Shaqiri were being investigated for an alleged breach of Article 54 of its disciplinary code, which outlaws “provoking the general public”. The offence carries an automatic two-match ban that would see both players miss Switzerland’s crucial final group match against Costa Rica and a possible last-16 tie.

Xhaka, whose family were forced to flee the Balkans after his father was jailed for campaigning for Kosovan independence, and Shaqiri, who was born in the former Serbian province, paid tribute to their roots after scoring in Friday’s 2-1 win.

Meanwhile, Fifa announced it had fined the Polish Football Association 10,000 Swiss francs (£7,625) for the display of a political and offensive banner during the match between Poland and Senegal, and had opened disciplinary proceedings over crowd disturbances involving both sets of fans during Croatia’s 3-0 win over Argentina.