LONDON -- The NATO air strikes in Serbia and Kosovo have sparked anguish and protest among Yugoslav soccer and basketball players in professional leagues throughout Europe.

Walkouts, demonstrations, black arm bands, anti-NATO slogans, banners and T-shirts have all been used by Serb athletes to denounce the bombings.

Gordon Petric, a Yugoslav soccer player for England's Crystal Palace, said a NATO bomb landed within 200 yards of his family's home in Belgrade.

While Petric decided to keep playing for his London club, his thoughts were far from soccer.

''I can't eat, I can't even breathe properly at the moment,'' he said. ''I cannot explain how hard it is to think about football. But I don't want to cry about it. The Yugoslav football players must not cry at this time.''

It has been a wrenching time for the NBA's Vlade Divac, one of the most prominent Serbian athletes in the United States.

''I have no energy, I don't feel good, yet I play good,'' the Sacramento Kings center said. ''There is no explanation.''

His days and nights are filled with worry for loved ones in his homeland.

''The thing that is killing me is that I am powerless in the whole situation,'' he said. ''My parents tell me not to worry, but it is hard.''

Tennis star Monica Seles now lives in Florida but was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, where the city was without water after recent bombing raids.

Billie King, the captain of the U.S. Fed Cup team, has talked with Seles about the conflict. Fed Cup matches scheduled for Croatia have been switched to Raleigh, N.C.

''She has been very upset,'' King said. ''It is just very difficult for her.''

In Spain, Italy, France and Germany, Yugoslav players have been making themselves heard. Some have had to mute their protests under pressure from their clubs.

Shortly after NATO began its air campaign to force Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to accept a peace agreement in Kosovo, eight Serbian soccer players refused to play in Spanish League games. Several joined anti-NATO demonstrations in Madrid.

Real Madrid's star striker, Pedrag Mijatovic, wrapped himself in a Yugoslav flag at one demonstration.

''As one of the most important sportsmen of my country I had to express an opinion,'' he said. ''People were expecting me to say something and I could not say that I didn't care about what is happening there.''

Mijatovic got into trouble with Real Madrid when he refused to play against Alaves. He was fined $32,000, the maximum penalty under the club's rules, and warned he would be kicked off the team if he continued his boycott.

Mijatovic ended his walkout and played Sunday against Celta. All other Yugoslav players in Spain also returned to action over the weekend. Some, including Goran Djorovic of Celta, wore black arm bands.

In Italy, many players in the top soccer league on Sunday wore T-shirts in support of the Italian government's project to provide humanitarian aid for Kosovar refugees.

Two Yugoslav players, Lazio's Sinisa Mihajlovic and Juventus' Zoran Mirkovic, donned T-shirts reading, ''PEACE! No War'' for the second straight weekend. They also wore black arm bands.

Last weekend, the entire Sampdoria of Genoa club wore the ''PEACE! No War'' shirts over their jerseys to show solidarity with Yugoslav teammate Nenad Sakic.

Yugoslav basketball players in Italy have worn black ''mourning'' ribbons.

Predrag Danilovic, a former NBA player now with Kinder Bologna, said Yugoslav players have rejected the idea of boycotting games -- for now.

''But if Milosevic were to ask us to not play, I could not fight that,'' he said.

Point guard Sasa Obradovic, who plays for Roma Pompea, said he was thinking of his parents and sister in Belgrade.

''I have a lot of pain inside,'' he said.

In France, eight Serb soccer players in the First Division have protested the air strikes and worn T-shirts with the slogan: ''Silence. Peace.''

Saying he couldn't concentrate on soccer, Metz striker Vladan Lukic got permission from his club to return to Yugoslavia for three months to be with his family.

The German soccer federation has banned Yugoslav players from wearing black arm bands or displaying other political messages.

In the first days of the war, several Yugoslavs -- including Kristijan Djordjevic and Sreto Ristic of Stuttgart and Slobodan Komljenovic of Duisburg -- told their clubs they wouldn't play.

All Yugoslav players in the Bundesliga returned to their clubs for last weekend's games, including Rade Bogdanovic, who scored the winning goal for Werder Bremen against Freiburg.

Elsewhere:

--In Portugal, Serb players have taken part in anti-NATO protests in Lisbon and Oporto.

--In Denmark, two Danes of Serb origin -- Bora Zivkovic and Nocko Jokovic of Silkeborg IF -- had planned to wear black arm bands for last Thursday's cup semifinal but were ordered by the club not to do so.

''We are a Danish team and Denmark is actively involved in the Kosovo conflict,'' Silkeborg coach Seep Piontek said. ''It might be viewed as offensive by our supporters.''

--In Romania, Cornel Dinu, the ethnic Serb coach of Dinamo Bucharest, took part in anti-NATO marches, as did ethnic Serb players Miodrag Belodedic and Miroslav Giuchic of Steau Bucharest.

Dragan Petricevic, coach of the Romanian basketball club Poli Modrom Iasi, handed out target signs reading, ''NATO, I'm a target too. Hit me!''

--In Japan, the professional soccer league has urged its clubs to ban political protests after two Yugoslav players displayed T-shirts with anti-NATO slogans.
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