There have been so many
false dawns for Kosovo’s footballers that the sight of another materialising might
not give rise to much enthusiasm but this time politics, instead of clouding
the issue, might force a resolution.
Kosovo’s attempt to join the
global game have been stymied by opposition from Serbia, which been supported
by UEFA and its president Sepp Blatter.
Serbia has aspirations to
join the European Union and on April 16 the EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine
Ashton is due to issue a report on whether the Serbs can begin talks to join
the EU. Normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia are widely seen as a
prerequisite before that approval can be given.
According
to international media reports, the main stumbling block is agreement over potential
autonomy of the judiciary and the police in northern Kosovo, where ethnic Serbs
who do not recognize Kosovan authority are in a majority
A proposed solution could be autonomy for Serb-dominated
municipalities in northern Kosovo in return for Serbian recognition.
A recent
round of talks between Kosovan and Serbian politicians broke down earlier this
week. However, Kosovan diplomats already operate in Belgrade and Serbian
officials are in Prishtina, while border controls are in place between both
countries.
Last month the FIFA Executive Committee (ExCo) approved
president Sepp Blatter as an official mediator on the issue. If a solution
could be found before April 16, this would leave UEFA in a completely untenable
situation and open the way for FIFA and its president Sepp Blatter to
completely over-rule Platini.
Platini has, perhaps not
unreasonably, side with UEFA member Serbia throughout the wrangling. The former
French international insists that until Kosovo is recognised by the United
Nations then the FFK cannot be accepted as a member – a criteria belatedly
created by UEFA to exclude the British colony of Gibraltar and pacify another
Platini loyalist, Ángel María Villar Llona, the influential president of
the Spanish FA.
Spain
are among the countries yet to recognise Kosovo’s independence, along with
Russia and a number of eastern Bloc countries. In
contrast, the United States and most countries in western Europe do recognise
Kosovo’s independence, including 22 members of the EU.
By the end of 2012, 98 of the
193 countries had recognised Kosovo. Last month, Guyana became the latest
country to recognise Kosovo.
To join FIFA, a new country first
needs to be a member of a regional confederation. In some cases, such as South
Sudan, this has been waived through as a formality. FIFA has adopted a more
progressive attitude to Kosovo since 2008.
In 2010, to stop Kosovan
players being poached without properly recompensing local clubs the FFK was
included in FIFA’s new transfer matching system. In late 2012, Blatter over– ruled
UEFA – much to the fury of Platini and the Serbs – and insisted that the
Kosovans could play international friendlies against other UEFA members despite
not being a member of the world body.
Furious filibustering
followed, creating the farcical situation that means Kosovo can play these
matches but only if the opponents and venue are approved by the Football Association of Serbia. In addition, the Kosovan team cannot
display any evidence of their Kosovan identity. Not surprisingly, the FFK refused
to submit to those conditions and no games have gone ahead.
If a solution is reached, any ground made by the Kosovans accompanied by the potential accession to UEFA of Gibraltar, whose application to join the European body goes to vote on May 24 in London, would surely not help relations between Villar Llona and Platini as the Frenchman gears up for his widely expected bid to succeed Blatter on the FIFA president's expected retirement in 2015.
