An unusual football match was played in Belgradethis evening. The inflatable court of the Red Star Rowing Club, on the Ada Ciganlija river island, was the venue for a game of indoor football that pitted teams from the National Assembly of the Republicof Serbiaand the Parliament of Great Britain against one another. The Serbian deputies, headed by team captain Predrag Markovic, celebrated a 5-1 victory over the Britons, who were assisted by three deputies of the Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The top scorers in the National Assembly team were Miloljub Albijanic, who put three shots past the keeper, and Ljubisa Djokovic, who scored twice.

The game was played as part of a parliamentary co-operation programme between the British Council and the National Assembly of the Republicof Serbia. The project aims at acquainting MPs and deputies with parliamentary activities in each others’ countries, and exchanging experiences about the role of deputies in communicating with members of the public.

The Serbian team, playing under the slogan “Politicians in action”, was made up of deputies Zeljko Tomic, Ljubisa Djokovic, Boris Karaicic, Miloljub Albijanic, Sovranije Conjagic, Aleksandar Vlahovic, Zarko Obradovic, Bojan Kekic and Dejan Jevtovic, secretary of the Youth and Sports Committee.

On the other side of the pitch, Clive Batts MP, Steven Hepburn MP, John Leech MP, Andrew Reed MP, Mark Allison, Damir Masic, Nermin Vila and Muhamed Ibrahimovic formed the mixed British-Bosnian team.

After the game ended, the parliamentarians exchanged appropriate presents, while the British MPs invited their Serbian counterparts to visit Westminsterand play a rematch as the away team.