England’s Three Lions will face their toughest test in the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Serbia tonight at 18:45 GMT in Belgrade and England captain says the team is prepared to do what is necessary should any racist act happen.
The Group K matchup has come under serious scrutiny over Serbia’s long history with racism in football which has even prompted general secretary of Serbia’s Football Association Branko Radujko to call on fans to resist indulging in any discriminatory act by stating,
“We are still under special monitoring of UEFA. Every inappropriate reaction, insult or incident could cost us dearly on our path to the [World Cup finals]”.
England’s 2-0 win over Andorra in the prior qualification game, had six black players in the starting lineup and this has raised serious concerns about the team possibly getting racially abused.
On his part, England captain Harry Kane talked about the team’s readiness to deal with any act of racism should the issue arise.
“We’re thinking about the football, the game, like the Serbia FA put out, is about enjoying, respectful, enjoy the game, and we hope that’s the case tomorrow. These are the things that are hard to talk about now, because we don’t know if it’s going to happen or not.”
“But ultimately, like I said, we’re prepared. We had a discussion as a group so that if in the event does happen, we’ll be prepared to do what is necessary” Kane said.
