Macron Apologises To Albania For Anthem Gaffe At Euro 2020 Qualifier
Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Sunday that France President Emmanuel Macron has apologised for the wrong national anthem being played before ‘Les Bleus’ beat the Albanians 4-1 in their Euro 2020 qualifier.
An Albania fan inside the Stade de France before the Euro 2020 qualifier in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on September 7, 2019. Photo: Christian Hartmann | Reuters
Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Sunday that France President Emmanuel Macron has apologised for the wrong national anthem being played before ‘Les Bleus’ beat the Albanians 4-1 in their Euro 2020 qualifier.
The match kicked off late at the Stade de France on Saturday because the hosts mistakenly played the Andorran anthem before the stadium announcer then apologised to the “Armenian fans” after the correct song was played.
“President Macron presented his sincere apologies for the scandalous gaffe by the French football federation with our national anthem,” he tweeted.
France-Albania UEFA qualifier delayed after French play Andorran national anthem instead of Albanian, enraging Albania & leading them to refuse to start the match until the proper anthem was played pic.twitter.com/Qr3oT9rSpN
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) September 7, 2019
“The French President considered the gaffe as an ‘unacceptable error’ and he appreciated the reaction of our players,” he added.
President Macron’s office confirmed the apology to AFP.
French coach Didier Deschamps has also said sorry to his Albanian counterpart, Edoardo Reja, for the error.
France, top of Group H on goal difference, host Andorra on Tuesday in the next fixture of their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign and Albania face Iceland.
-
Indigenous people march in Brazil to demand land demarcation
2024-04-24 -
Talks on global plastic treaty begin in Canada
2024-04-24 -
Colombian court recognizes environmental refugees
2024-04-24 -
Asia hit hardest by climate and weather disasters last year, says UN
2024-04-23 -
Denmark launches its biggest offshore wind farm tender
2024-04-22 -
Nobel laureate urges Iranians to protest 'war against women'
2024-04-22 -
'Human-induced' climate change behind deadly Sahel heatwave: study
2024-04-21 -
Moldovan youth is more than ready to join the EU
2024-04-18 -
UN says solutions exist to rapidly ease debt burden of poor nations
2024-04-18 -
Climate impacts set to cut 2050 global GDP by nearly a fifth
2024-04-18