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1 hour ago, aaid said:

It'll still screw up the fixtures for those groups, not they'll care about that. 

Absolutely.  The group with Russia currently in it (for friendlies) would switch their games from Russia to Kosovo or Gibraltar and the other group would play the other team on their free match day.  It's not long till September so I am sure plans have already been made by some fans. 

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On ‎03‎/‎05‎/‎2016 at 1:40 PM, wanderer said:

James Montague (BBC, CNN, World Soccer Magazine etc.....) has done a fair number of articles on this subject over the years and he seems to think (for the time being) when push comes to shove very few would actually switch if given the chance (Granit Xhaka is the only high profile one he thinks that would switch straight away).

 

Has Januzaj actually played a competitive game for Belgium yet? When he was hot property a couple of seasons ago, rumour was he was holding on for as long as possible in the hope of playing for Kosovo, before he eventually declared for Belgium. Given how he's not exactly progressed much recently, I think he might fancy switching to Kosovo, as I can't see him getting close to the Belgium first XI.

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3 hours ago, ZoltanBuchan said:

Has Januzaj actually played a competitive game for Belgium yet? When he was hot property a couple of seasons ago, rumour was he was holding on for as long as possible in the hope of playing for Kosovo, before he eventually declared for Belgium. Given how he's not exactly progressed much recently, I think he might fancy switching to Kosovo, as I can't see him getting close to the Belgium first XI.

Competitive game appearances wouldn't stop a switch - As per Montenegro etc players are allowed to change when a country they are eligible for is admitted

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38 minutes ago, Johnnyshaker said:

Januzaj went to the world cup, I remember him coming on in one game so he's definitely played a competitive game.

That's an issue for FIFA to sort out, it's happened before when Montenegro split from Serbia.

Xherdan Shaqiri is another one who could switch if he so wished.

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1 hour ago, bossman4 said:

That's an issue for FIFA to sort out, it's happened before when Montenegro split from Serbia.

Xherdan Shaqiri is another one who could switch if he so wished.

Lorik Cana too. Infact there's loads. Read an article that said when Switzerland played Albania there were 22 players out of the matchday squads who were eligible to represent Kosovo and potentially could switch.

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55 minutes ago, bossman4 said:

That's an issue for FIFA to sort out, it's happened before when Montenegro split from Serbia.

Xherdan Shaqiri is another one who could switch if he so wished.

I think the Swiss are really desperate for this to be sorted out fast, as they stand to lose a large chunk of their youth teams as a result (look through their U21 and U19 teams, and a lot of the team have "Yugoslav"-sounding names who are of Serb/Bosnian/Albanian decent.) and these players will not be tied down until they play a competitive first team game for the first team (Ukraine in the early 90's lost a few players to Russia because their FIFA membership was not in to FIFA in tome to take part in the WC94 campaign, so rather than play in friendlies, a lot of players who had cap's for the Soviet Union used a loop hole (as the Russian FA was viewed in FIFA's eyes as the successor to the Soviet FA)

The Swiss seem to be saying that this is a different case to the likes of Ukraine, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro as they are not a UN recognized member state (there was a reports coming out of the FIFA congress in Mexico last week that the Kosovo FA have had to agree to a number of conditions.... one rumor is no national anthems before games).

As said earlier, James Montague is a good writer to look up on this subject, as he seems to have covering it for a number of years now, and from what he says, very few of their big name players would actually switch if asked (most are happy to go to the World Cup and Euros with the likes of Belgium and Switzerland, than to step in to the unknown with a brand new team).

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1 hour ago, adamntg said:

Before the last world cup Bosnia had put together a large list of 50+ players who were eligible to play for Bosnia, and there was a lot of Swiss and Scandinavia based players on that, but even with the carrot of the a place at the World Cup offered to them, I do not think they got many or anyone of note to join them (IIRC Muamer Tanković of Fulham was viewed as their hopeful prize catch, but he stuck with Sweden).

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9 minutes ago, wanderer said:

Before the last world cup Bosnia had put together a large list of 50+ players who were eligible to play for Bosnia, and there was a lot of Swiss and Scandinavia based players on that, but even with the carrot of the a place at the World Cup offered to them, I do not think they got many or anyone of note to join them (IIRC Muamer Tanković of Fulham was viewed as their hopeful prize catch, but he stuck with Sweden).

It's different in this instance though as a few of the well known players mentioned have declared an interest or said it is a possibility for them to switch. A lot of the players eligible for Kosovo were born in Pristina (The capital of Kosovo) whereas I expect a lot of the Bosnian eligible players were born in the countries they represent - Tankovic is a good example as he was born, raised and lived all his life through school etc in Sweden thus making him Swedish.

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5 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

It's different in this instance though as a few of the well known players mentioned have declared an interest or said it is a possibility for them to switch. A lot of the players eligible for Kosovo were born in Pristina (The capital of Kosovo) whereas I expect a lot of the Bosnian eligible players were born in the countries they represent - Tankovic is a good example as he was born, raised and lived all his life through school etc in Sweden thus making him Swedish.

I do not think many of the high profile players linked were born in Kosovo (Xhaka, Shkelzen Gashi,Basha were all born in Switzerland, Adnan Januzaj in Brussels etc) and since FIFA allowed them to play games 2 years ago, I think their prizes catch has been Samir Ujkani from Albania (Genoa 3rd choice keeper with 20 odd caps for Albania)..... rest of their squad is made up of players who were either born in Kosovo or eligible, but most have 2 or 3 caps for the likes of Germany, Sweden and Norway at youth level.

There was a interesting debate last week about are they just going to become Albania's B-team (if Albania can keep their run that they are on going, and if Kosovo turn out to be no better than the likes of a Latvia or Fareo Islands) with Kosovo producing the kids, but Albania taking them off them before they can be tied down with the prospect of a place in the finals or a European Championship or even a World Cup.

Tankovic came into the headlines a few years back after he scored 3 goals against Bosnia, and refused to celebrate any of them (also apparently his dad was a bit pushy on him picking Bosnia).

 

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10 minutes ago, wanderer said:

I do not think many of the high profile players linked were born in Kosovo (Xhaka, Shkelzen Gashi,Basha were all born in Switzerland, Adnan Januzaj in Brussels etc) and since FIFA allowed them to play games 2 years ago, I think their prizes catch has been Samir Ujkani from Albania (Genoa 3rd choice keeper with 20 odd caps for Albania)..... rest of their squad is made up of players who were either born in Kosovo or eligible, but most have 2 or 3 caps for the likes of Germany, Sweden and Norway at youth level.

There was a interesting debate last week about are they just going to become Albania's B-team (if Albania can keep their run that they are on going, and if Kosovo turn out to be no better than the likes of a Latvia or Fareo Islands) with Kosovo producing the kids, but Albania taking them off them before they can be tied down with the prospect of a place in the finals or a European Championship or even a World Cup.

Tankovic came into the headlines a few years back after he scored 3 goals against Bosnia, and refused to celebrate any of them (also apparently his dad was a bit pushy on him picking Bosnia).

 

There's plenty born in Kosovo who currently represent Albania or Switzerland; Xerdan Shaqiri, Lorik Cana, Valon Behrami etc etc. If they all switch back then Kosovo look stronger than Albania tbh!

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16 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

There's plenty born in Kosovo who currently represent Albania or Switzerland; Xerdan Shaqiri, Lorik Cana, Valon Behrami etc etc. If they all switch back then Kosovo look stronger than Albania tbh!

Agree, if they could get every eligible player available to them, they would have a hell of a team (probably as good, if not better, than Croatia out of all the ex-Yugoslav countries).

Problem is getting them, as very few have indicated that when push comes to shove that they would switch (sound of things the only one who would consider switching is Xhaka).... yes, most have indicated in the past they would love to play (but how much of that is just words to raise the awareness of a Kosovo team), but most the players you name have 60 odd caps for the likes of Switzerland (and will probably view the 2018 World Cup as their last chance to play at a WC).

If any players were going to switch, you would think they would have done so by now, yet all of them seem focused on the European Championships with their respected countries.

I think UEFA and FIFA have opened up a massive can of worms here.

Edited by wanderer
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Is there a Kosovan identity growing - since statehood? If Kosovo end up being an Albania B, or Albania knicking their top players, the brotherhood could end up more like a huge rival.

Who voted against Gibraltar in the other vote?

Edited by weekevie04
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1 hour ago, weekevie04 said:

Is there a Kosovan identity growing - since statehood? If Kosovo end up being an Albania B, or Albania knicking their top players, the brotherhood could end up more like a huge rival.

Who voted against Gibraltar in the other vote?

The problem is there is a lot of people in that neck of the woods who want to see a "Greater Albanian" nation created (IIRC that's Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and large area's of Macedonia and Bosnia and a section of Greece) with something like 80% of the Kosovo (ethnic Albanian) population supporting this idea of one day being one big nation.

Would imagine Spain were against Gibraltar, but no idea who the other hand full would be.

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Do both have ( potential ) national stadiums ?

I wouldn't mind a trip to either as long as it is on their home soil.

Belgrade and Novi Sad were fantastic when we played the Serbs :ok: 

Edited by jock strap
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5 hours ago, jock strap said:

Do both have ( potential ) national stadiums ?

I wouldn't mind a trip to either as long as it is on their home soil.

Belgrade and Novi Sad were fantastic when we played the Serbs :ok: 

Gibraltar are currently playing competitive matches in Portugal, but they're building a new national stadium (Europa Point Stadium) which should be completed this year and will hold around 8,000 people.

PDImage4.jpg

Kosovo have two national stadia: Olympic Stadium Adem Jashari (which holds 18,000) and Pristina City Stadium (16,000).

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