Greece protests to UEFA against North Macedonia’s European Championship shirt. The Greeks have formally requested their northern neighbors to remove the letters FFM (Football Federation of Macedonia) from the shirt. The abbreviation would conflict with the treaty that both Balkan countries concluded in 2018.
Greece is annoyed by the abbreviation FFM, because it refers to Macedonia without the addition ‘North’. Three years ago, the Greeks forced the name of the country to be changed from Macedonia to North Macedonia. The treaty was a compromise after years of bickering between neighboring countries over Macedonia’s historic territorial claims. In Greece there is a province of the same name Macedonia.
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Ukraine’s shirt also caused a stir and was changed for the European Championship.
According to the Greeks, the North Macedonians are violating the agreements in the treaty by reverting to the old country name. Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias recently wrote to his North Macedonian counterpart Bujar Osmani that the shirt’s initials “cannot be accepted” by Greece. The Greeks ask their northern neighbors to change the initials ‘to maintain a positive mutual dynamic’.
However, North Macedonia does not intend to change its shirt. Osmani argues that the 2018 treaty covers state-funded institutions, which the Football Association is not. “As long as FFM does not receive state money, the union is not obliged to change its name,” Osmani said. North Macedonia opened the European Championship on Sunday with a defeat against Austria (3-1) and will play against Ukraine on Thursday. The last group match against the Netherlands will follow on Monday.
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