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Ten years ago, Kosovo had never played a World Cup qualifier \u2013 now they are just 90 minutes away from qualifying for this summer’s finals.<\/p>\n
The Balkan nation, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and was officially recognized by FIFA and UEFA in 2016, hosts Turkey in Tuesday’s play-off match.<\/p>\n
With a win, Kosovo, ranked 78th in the world, will make it to the 48-team World Cup to be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n
The match will take place at a packed Fadil Vokrri Stadium in the capital Pristina \u2013 although most people will be watching on TV.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe only have a stadium for 13,000 spectators, but if it was possible, there would be 100,000″, said the coach of Kosovo, Franco Foda, after the 4-3 victory over Slovakia in the play-off semi-finals on Thursday.<\/p>\n
“On Tuesday we will have a historic match. We are in euphoria, but we must play the last match calmly. In that case, everything is possible.<\/p>\n
“We have emotional fans, but we must be careful and not allow ourselves we make mistakes”.<\/p>\n
Turkey, which has not qualified for the World Cup since third place in 2002, is ranked 23rd in the world, 55 places higher than Kosovo.<\/p>\n
But Kosovo has started to show the ability to overturn predictions.<\/p>\n
After a 4-0 start to Switzerland, Kosovo remained unbeaten in its remaining five group games, including wins at home and away. field against Sweden and a win and a draw against Slovenia, before drawing with Switzerland to go to the play-offs.<\/p>\n
“When the draw came out and we saw the opponents, we were not very hopeful, especially after we lost the first game 4-0”, said Arben Berisha, commentator for RTK Kosova television.<\/p>\n
“Then everything changed and we did something that was incredible and unexpectedly.<\/p>\n
“The win against Slovakia has been called a historic moment for the national team and for Kosovo as a country. It was the most important win ever”.<\/p>\n
Putting Kosovo on the international map<\/p>\n
If Kosovo qualifies, it will be in Group D and face Australia in Vancouver on Saturday, June 13, with Paraguay in San Francisco six days later and then co-hosts the United States in Los Angeles on June 25.<\/p>\n
After the Kosovo War of 1998\u20131999, Kosovo celebrates Liberation Day on June 12, 1999, following the withdrawal of Serbian forces and the entry of NATO-led peacekeeping troops.<\/p>\n
Independence came nine years later, although, by December 2025, of the 193 member states of the United Nations, only 110 recognize Kosovo as an independent state.<\/p>\n
“Qualifying for the World Cup would be historic, considering that only 10 years have passed since we were recognized by FIFA and UEFA”, Berisha added.<\/p>\n
“Some have called Tuesday the greatest day in the history of Kosovo since the declaration of independence in 2008.<\/p>\n
“Some say it would be the third historic day for Kosovo – the Day of Liberation in 1999 after the end of the war, the declaration of independence of Kosovo and this would be the third most important day in the history of Kosovo.<\/p>\n
“It would have a big impact if Kosovo manages to qualify, given the political situation. It would have a big impact around the world”.<\/p>\n
From the first official international match to the eve of the World Cup in 12 years<\/p>\n
Kosovo was allowed to play her first FIFA match in March 2014 \u2013 a 0-0 draw with Haiti. The second official international match was against Tuesday’s opponents, Turkey, who won convincingly 6-1.<\/p>\n
On 5 September 2016, Kosovo played their first World Cup qualifier and drew 1-1 in Finland, but this was followed by nine consecutive defeats, as Kosovo finished last in the group, scoring just three goals in 10 games.<\/p>\n
But Kosovo, having opportunities to call up qualified players born in other European countries such as Germany, Switzerland and Sweden quickly improved.<\/p>\n
In qualifying for Euro 2020, they took the lead in an away game against England before losing 5-3, but still finished third and were beaten by North Macedonia in the play-off semi-finals.<\/p>\n
Kosovo star is record goalscorer Vedat Muriqi, with 32 goals in 67 international matches, as well as a further 18 goals for Spanish La Liga side Mallorca this season.<\/p>\n
He is a player Turkey knows well, having scored 17 league goals for Turkish side \u00c7aykur Rizespor in 2018-19, and then 15 goals for Fenerbah\u00e7e the following season.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the striker Fisnik Asllani is a key part of Hoffenheim’s side, who are fifth in the German Bundesliga, while goalkeeper Arijanet Muriq is a regular starter for Serie A side Sassuolo on loan from Ipswich Town, for whom he played in the Premier League last season.<\/p>\n
Midfielder Edon Zhegrova is at Juventus and centre-back Amir Rrahmani has won the Serie A title twice with Napoli, although he is currently injured.<\/p>\n
Defender Florent Hadergjonaj has played two seasons in the English elite with Huddersfield Town, while offensive midfielder Milot Rashica had a spell at Norwich City.<\/p>\n
“Even though Turkey is a much better team and has better players than Kosovo, they are not as stable in terms of qualifications,” added Berisha. “It’s a home game and that’s a big advantage.<\/p>\n
“It will be something big and [if they win] it will probably be the biggest party ever seen on the streets of Pristina and in any city in Kosovo.”<\/p>\n
In an interview with the BBC World Service, Anel Rashkaj, Kosovo’s captain in that 0-0 draw with Haiti, explained what it was like to play for the country in the early “I was 17 or 18 years old and my dream was to play for the national team, as we came from a war,” said Rashkaj. “We had to fight with our clubs to play because they said: ‘it’s not a national team’ and ‘it’s not a UEFA date’. We had no money to organize gatherings and hotels. All these things were organized by Kosovar Albanians living in Europe.<\/p>\n
“It was stressful, waiting so long. I was probably the first to say ‘yes’ to the national team and I got to be the captain in this first official match.<\/p>\n
“Being in this position, seeing all the difficulties we’ve had, it’s incredible to have this feeling now that we’re so close to the World Cup.”<\/p>\n
Rashkaj will be at Tuesday’s game and said it will be an emotional night.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went through very difficult times with the war, and after the war there were economic problems \u2014 and there are still economic problems now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople want to feel like they can come together and feel like we’re strong. The national team has given people this feeling that we are strong, that we can make a name for ourselves in Europe.<\/p>\n
“It makes us proud that people see that Kosovo Albanians have a lot to contribute to the world.”<\/p>\n
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Source: prizrenpost<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ten years ago, Kosovo had never played a World Cup qualifier \u2013 now they are just 90 minutes away from qualifying for this summer’s finals. The Balkan nation, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and was officially recognized by FIFA and UEFA in 2016, hosts Turkey in Tuesday’s play-off match. With a win, Kosovo, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"views":78,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28979"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28981,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28979\/revisions\/28981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prizrenpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}