Kosovo national football team

Pre-independence

The squads of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro and Serbia at international competitions often included players from Kosovo, such as Fadil Vokrri and Stevan Stojanović. Three football players (Milutin Šoškić, Fahrudin Jusufi, Vladimir Durković) were part of the Yugoslavia team that won the gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics and silver medal at the 1960 European Championship.

The unofficial national team of Kosovo was formed following the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, and has played a number of friendly matches. Most of these friendly matches were played against club teams, although a number were played against national teams of other countries.

Official formation

On 6 May 2008, after the declaration of independence from Serbia, Kosovo applied for FIFA membership. Kosovo's application was discussed at the FIFA Congress in Zurich, in October 2008 when Kosovo was rejected membership in FIFA and could not play friendly matches as it was deemed it did not comply with article 10 of the FIFA statutes, that only "an independent state recognised by the international community" may be admitted into FIFA. FIFA reverted that decision on 22 May 2012, stating that Kosovo may play other countries in international friendlies according to Article 79 of the FIFA Statutes.

In September 2012, Albanian international Lorik Cana, along with Swiss internationals Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka and Valon Behrami (all of them with Kosovar Albanian origin) wrote a declaration to FIFA President Sepp Blatter, asking him to allow the Kosovo national team to be allowed to play friendly matches. The declaration was also signed by eight other Albanian footballers, hailing from Kosovo: Lorik Cana, Armend Dallku, Mërgim Mavraj, Samir Ujkani, Alban Meha, Burim Kukeli, Etrit Berisha, and Ahmed Januzi. In a meeting held in May 2012, FIFA decided to allow friendly matches to be played, a decision it later revoked following a protest issued by Football Association of Serbia. Some players, especially Kosovo Serbs (such as Miloš Krasić and Milan Biševac), continued to play for the Serbia national football team. A new meeting was planned to be held at FIFA on 27 and 28 September in which the Kosovo issue was again planned to be discussed, which was then postponed until December. In February 2013, FIFA announced that they would allow Kosovo to play against other nations in non-official competitions providing that they did not display national symbols.

On 13 January 2014, the national team was given permission by FIFA to play against FIFA member associations in international friendlies, with the notable exception of "representative teams of countries of the former Yugoslavia". Even club teams would be allowed to play friendlies after a FIFA Emergency Committee meeting. However, it was stipulated that "clubs and representative teams of the (Football Federation of Kosovo) may not display national symbols (flags, emblems, etc.) or play national anthems." The go-ahead was given after meetings between the Serbian Football Association and Blatter. Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi welcomed the decision and expressed his hope that the country would be a full member of FIFA and UEFA in the near future. Following FIFA's ruling, it was announced that Kosovo's first officially sanctioned international match would be against Haiti on 5 March in Mitrovica.

In March 2015 Michel Platini, UEFA's president, declared that Kosovo will be likely accepted in UEFA in 2016.

In September 2015 at an Executive committee meeting in Malta, UEFA approved the request from the federation to the admission in UEFA to the next Ordinary Congress to be held in Budapest on 3 May 2016. At the Ordinary Congress on 3 May 2016, Kosovo were accepted into UEFA after members voted 28–24 in favor of Kosovo.

On 13 May 2016 Kosovo was accepted in FIFA during their 66th congress in Mexico with 141 votes in favour and 23 against. The association joined Gibraltar as the 210th and 211th members of FIFA, respectively.

Match record

Kosovo has played a number of unofficial international friendlies. The first one was against Albania on 14 February 1993, lost 1–3. The line-up of that match was: Ahmet Beselica (Afrim Tovërlani), Fadil Berisha, Isa Sadriu (Nushi), Bardhyl Seferi, Gani Llapashtica, Selaudin Jerlini (Osmani), Kushtrim Munishi, Sadullah Ajeti (Ramiz Krasniqi), Muharrem Sahiti (Abdullah Rafuna), Genc Hoxha (c) (Idrizi) and Ardian Kozniku.

One of the most important international matches was a 1–0 win over Saudi Arabia, played in Ankara, Turkey, on 15 June 2007. It was the first time that Kosovo played a team that has taken part in the FIFA World Cup and the winning goal was scored by Kristian Nushi from the penalty spot on the 84th minute. The biggest win for Kosovo is the 7–1 defeat of Monaco, who hosted the event on 24 April 2006. The team that played against Monaco was led by the former Kosovo national team coach, Muharrem Sahiti, who after the match stated that: "I am very pleased with the team's performance even though we had predicted a stronger opponent. However, I want to emphasize that our players have been fantastic. The fact that we do not play many international matches may have inspired the players to give it their all this time".

In 2005 they participated in the KTFF 50th Anniversary Cup in Northern Cyprus, finishing second out of three. They lost 1–0 against the host and won 4–1 against Sàpmi.

On 5 March 2014, Kosovo played its first international friendly against Haiti. The match ended in a 0–0 draw. Before the match, a selection of Kosovo players posed with guns at a shooting range, causing a stir in Serbia. On the eve of the match, Kosovo supporters burned the flag of Serbia. This incident prompted the FSS to request that FIFA revoke Kosovo's right to play international friendlies. On 14 October 2014 the Kosovo, has played another unofficial international test match against the Swiss team FC Wil 1900 at IPG Arena, Wil, and won 1–0 which was scored by Kushtrim Lushtaku at the 77' minute. On 24 March 2015 the Kosovo, has played another unofficial international test match against the German team courses equated with Eintracht Frankfurt with score 0–0 and the date 27 March 2015, lost from Werder Bremen with score 2–0.

Non-FIFA Tournament

Kosovo has so far only participated in one international tournament, the KTFF 50th Anniversary Cup, held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Northern Cyprus Football Federation.

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

List of matches

The following is a list of matches of Kosovo since 1993.

Current squad

The following 21 players were called up for the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualification match against Turkey on 12 November 2016.
Caps and goals as of 12 November 2016 after match against Turkey.

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for the team within the last 12 months.

Stadiums

The main stadium of Kosovo national football team is Pristina City Stadium (Albanian: Stadiumi i Qytetit), a multi-purpose stadium based in Pristina, but also the second used stadium is Olympic Stadium Adem Jashari (Albanian: Stadiumi Olimpik Adem Jashari), a multi-use stadium in Mitrovica. But these two stadiums do not meet rules and regualtions and Kosovo expected will play qualifying matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Loro Boriçi Stadium in Shkodër, while their stadiums are renovated to meet UEFA standards, while Edi Rama, the Prime Minister of Albania in a post in Facebook, he says that the Kosovo national football team will play their qualifying matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in the Loro Boriçi Stadium.

Individual all-time records

Below are two lists of the top 10 players with the most caps and goals for Kosovo.

Head-to-head records against other countries