Östlund hopes to take the country to the first championship
Published 2025-09-02 11.49
Jesper Östlund took Hallby to the club’s first playoffs this spring.
Now Sportbladet can reveal that the 34-year-old is taking over Kosovo’s national team together with RIK’s Jasmin Zuta.
– It is not impossible to reach a championship for the first time, he tells Sportbladet.
When Sportbladet gets hold of Jesper Östlund to talk about Hans IF Hallby for the season, we simultaneously roll over a surprising news.
Östlund is in Kosovo to sit at a press conference podium a while later.
It turns out that the Hallby coach takes over Kosovo’s men’s national team.
– My wife Blert is from Kosovo from the beginning and they got it down here a couple of years ago. Then a contact was made and when they were now to change the national team, I got the question, says Östlund.
“Something completely different than I did before”
Östlund returned last year to IF Hallby, which he took up the team in the Handball League for the first time in 53 years in 2019. He led Sävehof’s ladies to two SM golds during his two years where 2022-24 before he was back in Hallby last year and took the gentlemen to the team’s first SM playoffs ever.
The 34-year-old has worked as a youth association in Sweden, but this will be the first time he is responsible for a senior national team.
– It will be exciting to do something completely different in handball than what I have done before. After all, it is another mentality and culture here, and be allowed to build something from the beginning.
Kosovo may be described as a C-Nation in handball and has never qualified for a championship but after the European Championship was extended to 24 teams the chance at least increased.
– It is not impossible to reach a championship for the first time. They were a victory from reaching the last European Championship. So there is a possibility. But some structure will be required.
Hope “recruit” Salihi
Östlund has signed a two -year contract and will continue to train Hallby’s gentlemen in parallel.
He takes Redbergslid’s assistant coach Jamsin Zuta as his assistant.
– Jasmin is Alban but says that the difference between the languages is as between Swedish and Danish. He also knows a lot of handball of course.
In Kosovo’s player squad we find a Swedish acquisition: Lugi’s shooting king Leonard Gegaj. In addition, Östlund hopes to get Alingsås right nia gzim salihi.
– He is absolutely up to date and would of course go into the national team. It is mostly up to what he wants, says Östlund.
