Tag: Yury Gazinsky

But this World Cup has proven that the current state of world politics is something that can't be escaped, or ignored. Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri both made apparent Albanian nationalist gestures which imitate the Albanian flag. Many people in the former Serbian province of Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian majority, identify with the red and black flag. Shaqiri was born in Kosovo, while Xhaka's parents are originally from Kosovo. Racist abuse against Durmaz Sweden's Jimmy Durmaz condemned racist abuse he received after the country's 2-1 loss to Germany. That's the biggest thing you can do as a football player. Iranian women finally allowed to enjoy football Iranian women have not been allowed to attend football stadiums to watch men play football in years past. The Prince/Putin handshake When Russia opened the scoring against Saudi Arabia in the World Cup opener, the focus quickly moved from the first goal of the tournament to the two most prominent spectators. Saudi King Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged a friendly handshake after Yury Gazinsky netted for Russia after just 12 minutes. LGBT flag confiscations An England fan has spoken of his frustration after he was told to take a rainbow flag down inside Nizhny Novgorod stadium.