The Marseillaise was lavishly whistled by the public Kombëtare stadium in Tirana, Sunday, November 17, before the qualifying match at Euro 2020 between Albania and France, two months after the bad Albanian anthem was broadcast at the Stade de France.
A majority of the 22,000 spectators at the new stadium in the Albanian capital, inaugurated for the occasion, whistled the French anthem when it was performed by a local singer.
The anthem of Andorra was broadcast at the Stade de France by mistake, instead of that of Albania, on September 7 before the 4-1 victory of the Blues. This had delayed the kickoff of a few minutes, the time that the quack was repaired and the good hymn played.
French officials, from the president of the FFF to the president of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, as well as the coach of the world champions Didier Deschamps, had apologized to their counterparts after this episode.
For this blunder which had caused a delay on the protocol schedule, the French Football Federation (FFF) was inflicted by UEFA a fine of 20 000 euros.
