At that point a drone quadcopter carrying an Albanian nationalist banner with an image of Greater Albania appeared on the pitch.

This triggered a pitch invasion by Serbian fans and security stewards, who proceeded to attack some of the Albanian players, four of whom sustained minor injuries.

Ten minutes before half time, flares were thrown towards Ansi Agolli as he was about to take a corner kick, and a firecracker exploded.

At around the 40-minute mark, a bottle was thrown at Bekim Balaj, and some Serbian fans tried to invade the pitch, leading to brawls between them and security.

[22] In the 42nd minute of the match, English referee Martin Atkinson suspended the game again due to Serbian fans launching flares onto the pitch.

Bekim Balaj finally took the flag from Mitrović, and tried to take it off the field, until a Serbian fan ran onto the pitch and struck him across the back of the head with a plastic stool.

[25] Serbian hooligans came onto the pitch and began attacking Albanian players with chairs and other objects, prompting the referee to lead the teams off the field.

[25] Before the Albanian team left the stadium, Serbian police searched the bags of an entire 45 person delegation of supporters from Albania in an attempt to find the remote for the drone, to no avail.

[36] The Serbian Prime Minister's office also stated that Rama was arrested and sent home to Albania, a claim denied by the Albanian government's spokesman.

Olsi Rama denied any involvement and said that he had been moved from the VIP box for security reasons and informed the authorities that he held American citizenship before being given a police escort to waiting buses.

[38] On the other hand, UEFA President Michel Platini said he was "deeply saddened" by what had happened, adding: "Football is supposed to bring people together and our game should not be mixed with politics of any kind.

[15] On 16 October, Serbian Interior Minister Nebojša Stefanović said that the police were examining the drone to determine its commander and where it was purchased.

Serbian authorities later claimed that Albania was "not mature enough" to join the European Union because "statements by leaders of the Albanian government demonstrate that they knew such a provocation was being prepared".

[40] This prompted the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon the Serbian envoy and cast further doubt on a visit by Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama to Belgrade on 22 October, the first of its kind in almost 70 years.

[43] Agim Cana, former footballer and father of Albania's captain Lorik, declared that the Serbian fans' behavior was racist and fascist.

Incidents of brawls among Montenegrin Albanians near Podgorica were recorded and four students had checked in the hospital as a result of bruises because of fights among them.

[47] Within Albania, as soon as the match and the subsequent events in the stadium were over, a group of hundred Albanian nationalists carrying flags and nationalist banners attacked local ethnic Greeks, attacked houses, smashed car windows in the Greek-inhabited village of Derviçan, south of Gjirokastër.

[52] Serbia were charged for the setting off/throwing of fireworks and missiles (Article 16 (2b & c) UEFA Disciplinary Regulations), crowd disturbance (Art.

[9][10] As neither the Albanian nor the Serbian football associations were satisfied with the UEFA ruling, they both filed further appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

[65] That day, the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected the appeal filed by the Serbian FA completely, and upheld in part the appeal filed by the Albanian FA, meaning the match was deemed to have been forfeited by Serbia with 0–3 and Serbia were, in addition, deducted three points from the game.