Kosovo football legend and pioneer Vokrri dies suddenly, aged 57 

June 11 –  One of the main architects in getting Kosovo recognised as an international football federation and admitted as a UEFA and FIFA member, Fadil Vokrri, has passed away aged 57.

The death of the Kosovan FA president and former international player for Yugoslavia was unexpected.

His crowning achievement in football was not as a player but as a football politician. It was his lobbying that principally succeeded in getting war ravaged Kosovo admitted to UEFA and FIFA’s football family in May 2016 after strong opposition from neighbouring nation Serbia, but with significant support from Albania.

At the time of admission Vokrri said the issue “essentially boils down to whether someone will allow or deny children to play football.”

“On behalf of all our staff, our coaches, our referees, our fans and of all young players in my country who have long dedicated their lives to football, this is a historic moment,” he said.

“I will make a pledge: I will defend football’s values in a region that not very long ago was still ravaged by the scourge of war. We will work to bring people together on the pitch and around the pitch. This is our vision for the future as the 55th member association of UEFA.”

“The International Court of Justice has stated that Kosovo did not breach international law and an agreement was signed with Serbia saying the acceptance of Kosovo within European structures would not constitute any obstacle and this should apply to UEFA.”

Vokrri played for local Kosovo teams FC Llapi and FC Prishtina, before joining Belgrade’s FC Partizan in 1986 where he went on to win one league championship in his first season and one Marshal Tito Cup in 1989. He also played for Yugoslavia’s national team between 1984-1987.

In the ‘90s Vokrri played for FC Fenerbahce and a number of French clubs including Nimes, Bourges and Montoucon.

After the Kosovo War in 1999, Vokrri returned to Kosovo to help rebuild his team, FC Prishtina, as its director, and by 2008 he was appointed as head of the Kosovo Football Federation.

Speaking to Insideworldfootball before his Kosovo’s first international friendly match against Haiti in 2014, Vokrii emphasised the importance of the game that took place in the city of Mitrovica in Europe’s frequently troubled Balkans region. It will be Kosovo’s first match since last month’s announcement that FIFA, world football’s governing body, had cleared it to play friendlies against all but countries that once, like it, constituted the former Yugoslavia.

When I caught up this week with Fadil Vokrri, President of the Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK), there was no doubting the importance he attached to the milestone.

“It is a very important step. It is a historic match. We have been isolated for 20 years. After 20 years of isolation, we could say discrimination, at last there is justice.”

Just two years later Kosovo was playing in its first World Cup qualifying campaign.

Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1711692061labto1711692061ofdlr1711692061owedi1711692061sni@n1711692061osloh1711692061cin.l1711692061uap1711692061