May 19 – UEFA are to set up a special task force to determine how to accommodate Kosovo in their various competitions. Kosovo were accepted as a full member of FIFA last Friday, a week after being admitted to UEFA despite fierce opposition from Serbia.
A May 31 deadline has been set for Kosovo club teams to be accepted into the Champions League and Europa League next season provided they pass UEFA licensing rules covering aspects such as stadium safety, transport, medical facilities and communications.
But a more thorny issue is national competitions. Whilst the plan is for Kosovo to be admitted into the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign, several teams in several groups do not recognise Kosovo as an independent state. UEFA has in the past ensured that certain teams such as Spain and Gibraltar, Russia and Georgia, and Azerbaijan and Armenia were not drawn in the same group in tournament qualifiers.
“We always have to take precautions to avoid clashes,” UEFA’s acting general secretary Theodore Theodoridis told reporters. “The obvious one is Serbia, but we have other cases where there could be problems.”
A further complication is that FIFA has apparently advised UEFA that Kosovo-eligible players currently turning out for other national sides will be barred from switching allegiance. “That was the opinion expressed by FIFA,” said UEFA legal director Alasdair Bell.
“The indications are that if a player elected to play for Switzerland, for example, when he had Kosovo dual nationality, then he would not be able to change teams. It is going to have to be determined on a case-by-case basis by FIFA.”
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