Football can trigger dangerous nationalistic feelings. After a qualifying match between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969, the so-called football war broke out between the two countries, claiming over 2,000 lives. For some players, coaches and fans from the Balkans, the World Cup in Russia seems to be a continuation of the war by other means. Granite Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri used their hands to form the Albanian double eagle to celebrate their goals for Switzerland and to humiliate the Serbs. Xhaka was born in Switzerland; his parents come from Kosovo. Shaqiri was born in Kosovo and moved to Switzerland with his parents when he was four years old. Neither of them is from Albania, nor are their parents, and they do not play for Albania. And yet they celebrate their goals against Serbia by forming an Albanian national symbol with their hands. Swiss footballer Xherdan Shaqiri makes the Albanian “double eagle” gesture during a World Cup match against Serbia Distance makes the heart grow fonder It is not unusual that the diaspora has a very special relationship with their ” Heimat ” (homeland). A nation you don’t really have much to do with is stylized into a mythical place. “Home”…