Sport in Pristina

Sport clubs and organizations in Pristina

Sport in Pristina is organized in units called Municipal Leagues. There are seven Municipal Leagues in Pristina. The Football Municipal League consists of 18 clubs, the Basketball Municipal League consists of 5 clubs, the Handball Municipal League consists of 2 clubs, table tennis and chess consist of 6 clubs each, the Karate Municipal League consists of 15 and in the Municipal League of Tennis there are 2 clubs The list below displays some of the sport clubs registered in Kosovo's Accreditation Directorate. 89 clubs from Pristina populate the list, which apart from the more popular sports shown below also includes karate, shooting, weight lifting, swimming, skiing, taekwondo, chess, kick box, athletics, cycling, fishing, etc.

Football

Before there were any clubs or competition, after the end of the First World War, in 1919 football was played by soldiers, officers and students who studied abroad in the Universities of France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, England, Romania, Hungary etc. and began to return home to Pristina. One of these students, studying in France, brought the first football in Pristina in 1919. The ball was a present from a French doctor. After the arrival of the first ball in Pristina, it was mostly youngsters who kicked it around, unorganized and with no institutional support. During that time, only friendly matches were played. The city of Pristina was a small town of 16,000 citizens when in 1922, the first “blue” club named Kosova” was founded. The club consisted mainly of Pristina Garrison soldiers and did not participate in official competition due to not being registered. The oldest club of Kosovo was not competing in official levels, but was playing friendly matches with other teams, domestic and from the region. In 1926, Bashkimi football club was also founded in Pristina and consisted mainly of craftsmen. With the advantage of strong material consolidation in comparison to KF Kosova, Bashkimi was registered in the Sub league of football in Banovina, Skopje. In 1945, Bashkimi won the championship title in Kosovo, a success which they also repeated a year after. After World War II, KF Bashkimi and KF Kosova continued to be active in the football field and they were joined by other clubs, such as Milicioneri, Bratsvo and Radniçki. In 1947, KF Bashkimi and KF Kosova merged into one club by the name of Proleter. This change uplifted the team, and their biggest success was being placed in the quarterfinals of State Championship in Yugoslavia, where they lost 2:0 to Partizan. Proleter changed its name to Jedinstvo in the 1948/1949. Jedinstvo which was strong in both economic and organizational aspect merged with Bratsvo from Pristina and Zheleznicari from Fushe Kosove. The new team named Kosova became leader in state championship by winning in two consecutive seasons during 1951/52 and 1953/54 Since 1960 the club has won 19 championship titles, including the last season of 2012/2013. During this period, KF Prishtina has become the only Kosovar football club to win the Kosovar Superliga and Kosovar Cup trophies in one season (2012/13). Their fan club is called Plisat. Some of the most notable players of this club who found their success in international clubs later on include Debatik Curri, Fadil Vokrri, Armend Dallku, Ardian Kozniku, Kushtrim Shala, Goran Dorovic, Zoran Batrovic.

Basketball

Sigal Prishtina is the most successful basketball club in Pristina and in Kosovo and is now part of the Balkan League, their first non-local competition. Joining it in the Superleague is another team from Pristina, RTV 21. Sigal Prishtina has dominated national basketball since 2002 by being crowned champions of the national Superleague 8 times (2001/02, 2002/03, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11), champions of Kosovo National Cup 11 times (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2016) and one time champion of the Supercup of Kosovo in 2005. Apart from indoor basketball success, Che Bar streetball team from Pristina has been crowned champion of the Streetball Kosovo national championship in 2013. This victory coincided with Streetball Kosovo's acceptance in the FIBA.

Dardan Berisha from KB Sigal Prishtina was the best male athlete of 2013 according to Grupi Koha, following the success he had with the club throughout the season.

Handball

Handball activities in Pristina date back as far as 1948 where we see the emerging of the first teams such as Kosova e Prishtinës, along with Trepca e Mitrovicës, Partizani and Milicionari. Xhavit Spahiu formed the first club of handball, Normalisti i Prishtinës. The team established themselves as the first champion team of the country. From 1954 to 1959 they triumphed by becoming champions six times in a row. From 1981 and on because of the political situation in Kosovo, handball was in a difficult position and only recovered in 1999. They were accepted in the International Handball Federation (IHF) and European Handball Federation (EHF). The national team held matches in Bosnia, Turkey, Bulgaria and other Balkan nations. On 28 November 2001 Pristina hosted a match against Kelecolu, a Turkish team and this marked the beginning of continual friendly matches of Kosovo against other nations not only in the Balkans but as far as Great Britain, Scotland, Egypt etc.

KH Prishtina (Handball club of Pristina) with their main playing stadium in the Palace of Youth and Sport have won the Kosovo’s cup in April 2013 against Vushtrri, establishing themselves as the champions of Kosovo for the fourth time. KHF Prishtina (Handball club of females in Pristina) has won ten championships in a row and are currently holding their fall championship title for 2012/13. Because of their continual successes at home, they have been qualified for the European league for the second time in their history.

Oltion Beshiri is one of the most successful handball players for Pristina’s Handball Team. He has been awarded with the Athlete of the Year award for the 2013 season from the fans of the capital, Plisat. During 2008-2009 he scored 229 goals for half a season, and was also part of the Bundesliga for several months when he was 15–16 years of age.

Volleyball

Volleyball in Pristina was first played in the gyms of high schools during 1936. In 1948, Pristina was the host city of the first volleyball championship, which was organized as a competition between 6 teams. Ten years later, another championship was organized and the winners, the men's team of Pristina, qualified to play in the League of Serbia and the Second Federative League in Yugoslavia. The women's team, called the University of Prishtina, only made it that far after 1975. In 1991, volleyball in Pristina was no longer organised within the Yugoslavian regulations. The men's team competed in the first tournament organised independently that year, whereas the women's team competed two years later in the first tournament organised as part of the women's league. Pristina's volleyball teams, although with changes in names and chairspersons, have competed consistently in championships organised since the sport began its independent activity in 1991 Pristina women's volleyball club are current defending champions in the 2013/2014 season. Another women's club from Pristina, University AAB won the Cup of Kosovo 2012 by beating Pristina in the final. Despite being the current best team in the women's Superleague, Pristina's team is going through financial obstacles, causing problems in organising matches in their homecourt. Pristina's Volleyball Club was elected the most successful club in the women's category for the 2012/2013 season Volleyball in Pristina continues to struggle along with the Volleyball Federation of Kosovo, considering that they are not accepted in the International Volleyball Federation and as a result, Pristina and other clubs cannot compete in international tournaments.

Shemsije Asllanaj was elected the best volleyball athlete in the women’s category by the Kosovar Volleyball Federation in 2012. In this year the club she plays for, KV Prishtina also won the Super Cup. She repeated the success in 2013 along with the club she plays for, KV Prishtina as they were awarded with the highest honors from the Kosovar Volleyball Federation.

Infrastructure

The Stadium of Pristina is the home ground of FC Prishtina since the 17th of May 1953. Nowadays, due to renovations, the capacity of the stadium is 16,200 seats.

Apart from inserting new seats which were a donation from Football Federation of Sweden, the stadium has also been subject to a number of other architectural interventions, including a roof top in the western wing which would enable spectactors shelter during rain, and a fence in the north-eastern wing . The Youth Palace which is located in the centre of Pristina, is the home of many sports played indoors in the city including basketball, volleyball, table tennis and foots-all. The Palace constructed in 1977 was financed from the voluntary contributions of the citizens of Pristina. Its first director was Kemajl Hashimi, while from 2008 and on this institution is under the management of the Kosovar Agency of Privatization. The Youth Palace has an area of 8136 m2. During the year of 2013, Sigal Prishtina has invested in the renovation of the Palace in order to get prepared for the matches against the teams of Balkan League in Basketball. Another football stadium located in Pristina is the Stadium of Flamurtari, which is home ground to Flamurtari Football Club and Kosova e Prishtinës Football Club. This stadium has a capacity of 2000 seats. Pristina possesses outdoor tennis courts where Pristina Tennis Club and DielliX Tennis Club operate their activity. These two hard surface courts are also equipped with proper lightning that enable play during night. Two of the biggest tournaments organised in Kosovo take place in these courts, Pristina Open and Dielli Open. Apart from tournaments, Pristina's tennis grounds have also been utilized for junior tennis camps organized by Pristina Tennis Club. The sport infrastructure is an issue of current debate. The reasons for the lack of or poor quality of Pristina's sport venues include the consequences of the last war (1999),the lack of investments in the past 25–30 years, and the difficult economic situation of the country.

Other sports

Table tennis is another active sport in Pristina, since the acceptance of the Kosovar Table Tennis Federation in the International Table Tennis Federation in 2003. Two players from the KP Prishtina (Table-tennis Club Pristina), Vlona Maloku and Linor Çitaku were elected table tennis players of the year 2013, following their acclaimed titles and placement on top of the national ranking table. Maloku is a member of Kosovo's national table tennis women's team and participated in the European Table Tennis Championship in Vienna, whereas Çitaku is a regular member of Kosovo's national table tennis men's team and participated in the World Table Tennis Championship in Paris 2013, European Table Tennis Championship in Vienna and Balkan's U21 Table Tennis Championship in Sarajevo

Tennis in Pristina is represented by two tennis clubs, KT Prishtina and KT DielliX. They both practice their activity in the tennis courts located near the Ismail Qemali secondary school KT Prishtina was founded in 1992 and is the first tennis club in Kosovo. Current director is Agim Islami, and the club consists of 230 members, more than half of them being women. Apart from local tennis players, there are circa 30 international players who play under this club. 22 local male tennis players compete in national tournaments, five of whom are in the top ten. In the women's category, there are four active players. KT DielliX was founded in 1997 and is the main organizer of the traditional tennis tournament in Pristina, Dielli Open.

Karate in Pristina is played in 14 clubs, of which KK Ippon was champion of the National Championship of Karate in 2013. KK Ardhmëria, KK ASLU, KK Bardhoshi, KK Batllava, KK Fan, KK Iliria, KK Kosova, KK Kosovari, KK Përparimi, KK Prishtina, KK Sharri, KK UNSU and KK Vajzat e Dardanisë also represent Pristina in national championships and other competitions

There are four swimming clubs in Pristina, KN Step, KN Scan Color, KN Prishtina, KN Nemo OP, and all four of them have been awarded year ending prizes by the Kosovo Swimming Federation in 2013

Rita Zeqiri from KN Step Prishtina was elected the best swimmer of the year for 2013, a prize this she won for the fourth time in a row. In 2012 she triumphed as a champion of Kosovo in 10 seniors’ disciplines and won 21 international medals, 20 of which were gold. In the men’s category, Lum Zhaveli from KN Step Prishtina was the best swimmer of 2013, after winning 4 international medals, 2 of which golden and breaking many national swimming records.

Shooting as a sport began in 1948 in Pristina. Nowadays it is practised by four clubs: Dardania, Hajvalia, Polici and Zenel Hajdini, and all four of them operate in the Youth Palace of Pristina.

Sport in education

Sport in education is considered as necessary for a proper physical and psychological development of children and as means of improving the overall quality of sport in the country. According to the regulations from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Physical Education is a mandatory class for which students of primary and high schools must attend 2 teaching hours during a week, 74 in total for the Academic Year. For students with special needs or others with particular talents, special treatment is required which involves activities up to five times a week. . The Program contains learning on sports theory, athletics, gymnastics, collective sports, individual sports (swimming, combative sports, racquet sports), and competitions in at least two sports.

The books used for the programs are :