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Spain is playing its future in the World Cup visiting the country that refuses to recognize

BarcelonaAnd to think that there are still people who argue that politics is not part of football, when different teams are fighting to play a World Cup in Qatar, a state that uses sport to legitimize its politics, both inside and outside. One of these teams is Spain, which runs the serious risk of losing for the first time the final phase of a World Cup since 1974 if it hits the field in Kosovo (20.45 h / TVE1). Without Gerard Moreno and Gayà, and with the doubt of Jordi Alba, Spain needs to take the victory and Sweden to go to Athens to aspire to the first position. The stage, Pradina’s Fadil Vokrri Stadium, doesn’t help. In Kosovo they have been looking forward to visiting Spain for months, for two reasons: one for sports, as they still have options to catch Spain in the standings, and one for politics, as Spain does not recognize Kosovo.

When the first leg was played in Seville in March 2021, the Spanish government sent rules to its football federation asking it to consider the Kosovar anthem when it was advertised over the loudspeakers as music instead of anthem, in addition to keeping the flags of Spain and Kosovo in different and distant positions. In the end, the anthem sounded normal, but both members of the federation and journalists from Spanish Television spoke of “territory of Kosovo” or “the team of the Federation of Kosovo.” On the television signal, on the marker that appeared at the top of the screen at all times, Spain appeared with three capital letters (ESP), but Kosovo, in lower case. On social media, at the moment the Spanish federation is talking about reaching Pristina, the capital. Do not use Kosovo.

Spain is one of the countries that does not recognize Kosovo, the region that unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Although Spain supported the military mission to help Kosovars during the war of the 1990s and early 21st century, it later refused to accept its independence because it meant a case of unilateralism in Europe that could set a precedent. for Catalonia and the Basque Country. The president of the local football federation, Agim Ademi, defends ARA: “Every country has the right to defend its policy and ideas, but once Kosovo has been playing for years, it seems to me that creating these situations in football a mess. Also, the atmosphere will be festive. We know how to differentiate athletes from politicians, but our flag will fly high ”. Ademi admits that, for them, receiving in just five days two of the states that do not recognize them, Greece and Spain, “is a satisfaction.” The stadium will be full and Kosovar flags will be distributed before the match.

With 10,909 km2 and less than two million inhabitants, Kosovo is a disputed territory between Serbia and the local population, mostly Albanians. After years of violence and a cruel war, Kosovo became the youngest state in Europe, although 35 countries around the world, including China and Russia, do not recognize it. In the United Nations, the states that have recognized Kosovo are the majority, which has allowed this small Balkan state to enjoy independence and compete in sports. Nevertheless, the Spanish government has not respected these considerations in recent years. The first incident was at the 2018 Mediterranean Games in Tarragona, when the Kosovar flag was not part of the inaugural parade. The International Olympic Committee went so far as to recommend not granting Spain the right to compete until it respects the symbols of Kosovo after failing to sound the Kosovar anthem at a World Karate Championships. Now Spain is playing part of its future in a territory that does not recognize, but where it plays a legally official selection, in an independent state. And all the same week that Denmark has played an official match against the Faroe Islands, an autonomous Danish territory that can play officially because the Danes allow it. And because football legislation in the 1990s allowed the selection of a stateless territory to play out if there was an agreement – legislation that was changed at the request of the Spanish Federation. Now to have selection you have to have status. And even so, Spain does not like the presence of Kosovo.

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