On the eve of Republic of Ireland's opening 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Serbia in Belgrade on Wednesday, the hosts' football authorities have found themselves in turmoil.
Serbian FA chief Slavisa Kokeza resigned on Monday following allegations of links to organised crime. He was questioned by Serbian police for several hours last month and released, denying any wrongdoing.
However after intense media and fan pressure he announced that he was resigning in order to make life easier for the national team.
"Treacherous accusations devoid of all truth have been made and in order to allow the national team to prepare in peace for the upcoming games, I have stepped down," Kokeza was quoted as saying by the state Tanjug news agency.
"I no longer wish to perform the duty because the slander has affected me as the FSS chief and my mission now is to clear my name and make sure the truth comes out."
Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Serbian sports journalist Nemanja Stanojcic explained that the controversy around Kozeka, including alleged ties to members of a Partizan Belgrade ultras group, was outside of football and not related to his work with the federation.
Stanojcic explained that the allegations were that Kozeka "had some connections to people who are not very clear who are connected to doing some serious crimes and he's officially partly accused of doing trafficking with cigarettes and oil.
"He was caught partly with doing some parts with the director of our customs services, transferring cigars and oil with their help.
"That's officially the reason that he decided to stop (his role with the FA) so he doesn't put in jeopardy our federation, so he decided to resign."
But Stanojcic believes the presence of new manager Dragan Stojkovic, a former Yugoslavian football great, coupled with a decision to keep the players insulated from outside matters means the Kozeka issue is unlikely to impact the Serbia set-up against Ireland.
"From the moment that everything started, the federation was trying to isolate the players," he said.
"No one was talking about it. Questions related to that were not allowed, trying to isolate the players and not let anything of this kind affect them before the very important game because in our group is also Portugal and Portugal are the favourites to pass from our group so pretty much Serbia and Ireland will be the two teams fighting for the second spot and fighting for second.
"These two games against Ireland could be the most important ones in the qualifiers for the World Cup."
Follow Serbia v Republic of Ireland via our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app, watch live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player or listen to commentary on RTÉ 2fm's Game On
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