James Montague for The New York Times
Albania fans before a World Cup qualifying match. Although the match was in Switzerland, the crowd was two-thirds Albanian and Kosovar. More Photos »
LUCERNE, Switzerland — Xherdan Shaqiri walked onto the field with a white cross against his heart and three flags embossed on his shoes.
A promising 20-year-old midfielder for the German powerhouse Bayern Munich, Shaqiri lined up in the middle of the field alongside his Swiss teammates for a World Cup qualifying match against Albania. The national anthems were played, but Shaqiri did not sing the Swiss anthem.
The flags on his shoes — representing Switzerland; Albania; and Kosovo, the disputed, ethnically Albanian region of his birth — made a louder statement.
"We have been waiting for this for six months," he said before the match on Sept. 11. "The game against Albania is a game for the emotions."
In the globalized soccer arena, split allegiances of second- and third-generation immigrants are nothing new. But Switzerland against Albania had become something more.
Of the 22 players lined up for the game, nine were born in or had roots in Shaqiri's birthplace, Kosovo, a region of the former Yugoslavia that fought a brutal war of independence in the late 1990s against what is now Serbia. They identify as ethnic Albanians.
Decades of repression and the atrocities of that war, which prompted NATO military intervention in 1999, scattered hundreds of thousands of Kosovars throughout Europe. Some 300,000 — more than a sixth of the entire population of Kosovo — settled in Switzerland.
Alongside Shaqiri stood two other Swiss-Kosovar players, also silent during the Swiss anthem: Granit Xhaka, 19, recently signed by the German team Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Valon Behrami, 27, of the Italian club Napoli.
Albania's 29-year-old captain, Lorik Cana, who plays in Italy for Lazio, was also born in Kosovo.
The crowd was two-thirds Albanian and Kosovar. The black, double-headed eagle of the Albanian flag outnumbered the Swiss white cross three to one.
This peculiar situation arose because Kosovo does not have a recognized national soccer team. In fact, it is not officially recognized as a country.
The Kosovo War, fought between 1998 and 1999, failed to achieve for the region full independence from the Serbian-dominated Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Although Kosovo declared independence in 2008, and despite being recognized by the United States and 22 of the 27 countries within the European Union, it is still not a member of the United Nations. Russia, an ally of Serbia's, is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and holds veto power.
Kosovo's soccer team has been caught in the middle. UEFA, European soccer's governing body, requires U.N. membership before admitting a country, even though 37 of its 53 members recognize Kosovo politically.
But Kosovo's soccer isolation may not be permanent. In May, Sepp Blatter, the Swiss president of FIFA, soccer's world governing body, announced that Kosovo would be allowed to play noncompetitive matches against its members, an important step toward full membership.
The move stirred controversy in Serbia, which still considers Kosovo its territory. Russia and other European countries like Spain do not support the move, either; each has lingering territorial disputes.
Fadil Vokrri, the president of the Kosovo Football Federation, said he believed that the dream of Kosovo's becoming Europe's next national soccer team was closer than ever.
"It is very special to me to see different national teams play with players born in Kosovo," he said a few days before the Switzerland-Albania match. "It's like watching Kosovo A team versus Kosovo B. But the real Kosovo team cannot be represented."
Vokrri and his general secretary, Eroll Salihu, sat at a table plotting a cloak-and-dagger operation over coffee and beer. In front of them was a petition they had drafted for the Kosovo-born players who represent Switzerland and Albania to sign, pledging support for the official recognition of a Kosovo national team.
"We have to be sensitive with the Switzerland Football Association," Salihu said as he organized a meeting with the Swiss players on the phone. "We do not want to be exposed."
By DECLAN WALSH and STEVEN GREENHOUSE 20 Sep, 2012
-
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/sports/soccer/kosovo-wants-a-national-soccer-team-and-to-call-its-players-home.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Kosovo Wants a National Soccer Team and to Call Its Players Home
Dengan url
http://ishappyhealthy.blogspot.com/2012/09/kosovo-wants-national-soccer-team-and.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Kosovo Wants a National Soccer Team and to Call Its Players Home
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Kosovo Wants a National Soccer Team and to Call Its Players Home
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar