A 19-year-old man was arrested for hauling down and tearing the Albanian flag flying at yesterday's Athens soccer match between the under-21 squads of Greece and Albania, on the eve of today's highly charged encounter between the two countries' senior teams.

The government and the Greek soccer federation (EPO) condemned the incident, which had been preceded by jeering and booing during the playing of the Albanian national anthem before play opened at the Nea Smyrni stadium, and appealed for calm amid fears that nationalist hooligans would seek a repeat of the widespread violence that followed the first Albania-Greece game in September.

«Acts of bigotry and fanaticism are totally foreign to the sporting spirit,» government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said. EPO apologized to the Albanian federation.

The unnamed suspect will be charged today.