YOU MAY HAVE missed the news this summer that there will be two new teams taking part in the European section of the qualifiers of the 2018 World Cup – Kosovo and Gibraltar.
Irish fans will be familiar with Gibraltar after they were comprehensively beaten twice by the Boys in Green in their successful qualification campaign for Euro 2016, and they can now take part in the World Cup qualifiers after they were accepted as a member of Fifa.
Kosovo is a much more complicated case, however.
In 2008, it became a self-declared independent nation, but several countries such as Serbia who they declared independence from, along with their ally Russia, do not recognise Kosovo as a separate state.
Six years after declaring independence, Kosovo’s national football team played their first-ever international match, when they played out a goalless draw against Haiti.
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Tickets for the match sold out within hours, as 17,000 packed into the newly-designed Adem Jashari stadium. Although the crowd fail to see any goals, the match itself had a much greater significance, rather than the final result.
Kosovo, will be outsiders to qualify from their World Cup group, with the country having a population of just over 2 million.
Many people left the state after the strained relations between the two main groups of inhabitants, the Serbians and the Albanians, who wanted independence, escalated in a conflict during the 1990′s.
Consequently, Kosovo has a diaspora of potential players across Europe, namely Switzerland’s Premier League trio of Watford’s Valon Behrami, Arsenal’s summer recruit Granit Xhaka and Stoke’s Xherdan Shaqiri.
Manchester United’s Adnan Januzaj, who is on loan at Sunderland, is another high-profile name that previously expressed his desire to play for Kosovo, as he hesitated before playing his first senior international for Belgium.
The 21-year-old forward was born in Brussels to a father of Kosovar heritage, but has yet to officially commit to the state – but that could be down to Fifa not yet declaring if players who have represented another country at senior international level, can switch their allegiance to the governing body’s newest member.
Four former Albanian internationals have been named in the Kosovo squad for Monday’s fixture against Finland, but they do not yet know if they can play.
A plethora of the Albania squad that competed in Euro 2016 is eligible to play for Kosovo, none of yet, have stated their intentions as confusion surrounds the squad.
Should Kosovo do the unthinkable and progress from their group containing Croatia, Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey and the aforementioned Finland, they would have to overcome another political hurdle – competing in a World Cup hosted by Russia.
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Kosovo's first-ever World Cup qualifier is surrounded by controversy
YOU MAY HAVE missed the news this summer that there will be two new teams taking part in the European section of the qualifiers of the 2018 World Cup – Kosovo and Gibraltar.
Irish fans will be familiar with Gibraltar after they were comprehensively beaten twice by the Boys in Green in their successful qualification campaign for Euro 2016, and they can now take part in the World Cup qualifiers after they were accepted as a member of Fifa.
Kosovo is a much more complicated case, however.
In 2008, it became a self-declared independent nation, but several countries such as Serbia who they declared independence from, along with their ally Russia, do not recognise Kosovo as a separate state.
Six years after declaring independence, Kosovo’s national football team played their first-ever international match, when they played out a goalless draw against Haiti.
Tickets for the match sold out within hours, as 17,000 packed into the newly-designed Adem Jashari stadium. Although the crowd fail to see any goals, the match itself had a much greater significance, rather than the final result.
Kosovo, will be outsiders to qualify from their World Cup group, with the country having a population of just over 2 million.
Many people left the state after the strained relations between the two main groups of inhabitants, the Serbians and the Albanians, who wanted independence, escalated in a conflict during the 1990′s.
Consequently, Kosovo has a diaspora of potential players across Europe, namely Switzerland’s Premier League trio of Watford’s Valon Behrami, Arsenal’s summer recruit Granit Xhaka and Stoke’s Xherdan Shaqiri.
Manchester United’s Adnan Januzaj, who is on loan at Sunderland, is another high-profile name that previously expressed his desire to play for Kosovo, as he hesitated before playing his first senior international for Belgium.
The 21-year-old forward was born in Brussels to a father of Kosovar heritage, but has yet to officially commit to the state – but that could be down to Fifa not yet declaring if players who have represented another country at senior international level, can switch their allegiance to the governing body’s newest member.
Four former Albanian internationals have been named in the Kosovo squad for Monday’s fixture against Finland, but they do not yet know if they can play.
A plethora of the Albania squad that competed in Euro 2016 is eligible to play for Kosovo, none of yet, have stated their intentions as confusion surrounds the squad.
Should Kosovo do the unthinkable and progress from their group containing Croatia, Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey and the aforementioned Finland, they would have to overcome another political hurdle – competing in a World Cup hosted by Russia.
The42 is on Snapchat! Tap the button below on your phone to add!
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