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Sport in Kosovo is a tradition and plays a prominent role. Popular sports in Kosovo include football, basketball, volleyball, handball, and rugby, whereas major individual sports include wrestling, judo, swimming, boxing, karate and skiing.
Individual sports have been Kosovo's biggest success, in particular judo. with 52 medals won in total, winning 35 European medals aswell as three olympic gold medals,[1] [2] also seven judo World Judo medals and nine medals were won by Kosovo at the Mediterranean Games.[3] [4] In the past Boxing had an successful role in Kosovo under Yugoslavia. Winning 20 medals overall at this sport.[5] [6] Boxers from Kosovo would win eight medals at the Mediterranean Games , followed by seven medals in European Boxing aswell as four medals in World Boxing and one olympic bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics.[7] [8] Other notable sports in the country are Football and Handball.
The Judoka Majlinda Kelmendi won Kosovo's first ever Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the Women's 52 kg category.,[9] She won two back to back World Judo Championships in 2013 and in 2014[10] as well as four European Judo Championships titles in 2014, 2016, 2017 and in the 2019 European Games the first gold medal for Kosovo at the European Games.[11] Before retiring her judo career in 2021 after the 2020 Olympic Games.[12][13] the other world known Judokas are Distria Krasniqi who won the second olympic gold medal for Kosovo in the 2020 Summer Olympics,[14] followed by her compatriot Nora Gjakova who won Kosovo's second gold medal in Tokio and the third Olympic gold medal[15] overall for the country, in its olympic history so far.[16]
K.B. Prishtina was the most successful Boxing Club during Yugoslavia winning the Yugoslavian Boxing Championships five times during their time.[17] Aziz Salihu is the most successful boxer in his country. He became the first ever Kosovan to win an Olympic Medal with Bronze at the 1984 Summer Olympics in the Super heavyweight category.[18] He also would win two European Boxing Championships Bronze medals in 1981 Tampere and 1985 in Budapest.[19] He also won another bronze medal at the Boxing World Cup in 1987 in Belgrade before winning his gold medal at the 1987 Mediterranean Games in Larnaka in Syria. Other successful Kosovan boxers were Mehmet Bogujevci, Sami Buzoli, Bajram Hasani and Agim Ljatifi, Besim Kabashi, Donjeta Sadiku who would win many medals as Kosovans in international boxing competitions like the European Boxing Championship, World Boxing Championship and in Boxing at the Mediterranean Games for Yugoslavia.[20]
Football is the most popular sport in Kosovo and the most successful team sport in the Country. The Kosovo national football team in its short history achieved plenty of successful stories.[21] Their first success came at the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League finishing in first place in Group D, in League D in which they faced Azerbaijan, Faroe Islands and Malta. Kosovo secured the promotion after notably beating Azerbaijan at home with 4–0 in the last game. Kosovo finished the league unbeaten (with four wins and two draws) what secured them a play-off spot for the UEFA Euro 2020.[22] After the successful Nations League encounter, Kosovo entered the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying in Group A facing England,Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Montenegro respectively.[23] In which Kosovo were able to upset the opponents after managing their first win against Bulgaria away in Sofia with 2-3[24] followed by a surprising win against the Czech Republic with 2-1 in Prishtina.[25] being 15 matches unbeaten in which they won 11 out of 15 games during that period, being almost two years without a defeat.[26] The game against England away even saw the Kosovars took an early lead in the surprise, despite that they would lose 3–5 away, ending the longest unbeaten run in the football history of Kosovo.[27] In the following Kosovo would win once more this time defeating Montenegro with 2-0[28] after that they faced the Czech Republic away. Despite a yet surprising lead, they were not able to hold on and would lose close with 2-1 the decider for the UEFA Euro 2020 campaign. Kosovo finished their qualifying campaign in third place with eleven points.[29] In the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs Kosovo faced North Macedonia in the Toše Proeski Arena in Skopje. The match itself was very close but North Macedonia would win this match unfortunately ending Kosovo's dreams for a debut participation at the UEFA Euro 2020 for the Kosovans.[30] This remains Kosovo's greatest National Football team success so far.
FC Prishtina and KF Trepça are the most known Football clubs in the Country, followed by KF Ballkani and KF Drita.[31][32] Trepça were able to qualify as the first Kosovan Football club in the history for the Yugoslav First League, despite the relegation in the same saison they reached the finals of the 1977–78 Yugoslav Cup losing close to HNK Rijeka. The best club football achievement for Kosovo under Yugoslavia.[33] Fc Prishtina is the following team that qualified to the Yugoslav First League in 1983–84 finishing in 8th place that saison and runners up that year to Eisenstadt in the Mitropa Cup.[34] They would play four more saison's in the highest division of Yugoslavia, before being relegated in 1987-88, also being able to reach in the same year the Semifinals of the Yugoslav Cup in which they lost close to Borac Banja Luka after penalty's.[35] The most recent success came by KF Ballkani who became the first Kosovan Football after their independence to qualify for the newly crown UEFA Conference League in 2022-23[36][37] Their first ever win in a UEFA competition came against Sivasspor in a thrilling 3–4 away win in Turkey.[38] They would qualify for the second year running for the 2023-24 UEFA Conference League.[39] After beating FC BATE Borisov in the Play-off 4–1 on aggregate in the final result.[40]
Some of the federations that are part of the international associations are Kosovo Taekwondo Federation, Boxing Federation, Handball Federation, Judo Federation, and Kosovo Ski Federation. Nevertheless, athletes who were born and raised in European countries had the opportunity to be successful in the international arena.
Association football
The most popular sport in Kosovo is football. The playing of football in Kosovo is documented since at least 1914. However, only in 1922 were the two first football clubs formed, FC Gjakova and FC Prishtina. Until 1926 the clubs competed within the several levels of the Belgrade Football Subassociation, and after 1926, clubs from Kosovo were integrated into the newly formed Skopje Football Subassociation. The subassociations organised different levels of leagues which served as qualification leagues for the Yugoslav championship.[41] From 1945 until 1991, football in the former Yugoslavia advanced so fast that in 1946 the Football Federation of Kosovo was formed as a subsidiary of the Football Federation of Yugoslavia. The most successful team from Kosovo in the first league of Yugoslavia was FC Prishtina, while KF Trepça was part of the league for one year. In 1991 the Football Federation of Kosovo was refounded after all football players from Kosovo were banned from the First League in Yugoslavia. The first game was held in KF Flamurtari's stadium on 13 September 1991 in Pristina, which also marked the start of the first independent championship in Kosovo. The governing body in Kosovo is mainly responsible for the national team and for most of the main cup competitions.[42]
Currently, Kosovo has a football league system which incorporates a number of clubs. The top division, the Raiffeisen Super League, has 12 teams.[43] The league was founded in 1945 and is organized by the Football Federation of Kosovo.[42] The other three professional divisions are the first league which includes 16 teams, and the second and third league. There are also semi-professional and amateur football clubs that are active as well. The main cup competition in Kosovo is the Republic of Kosovo Cup, which is open to every men's football team that is part of the Football Federation of Kosovo. The most successful clubs are FC Prishtina (twenty championship titles), KF Vëllaznimi (eight championship titles), KF Trepça (seven championship titles), KF Liria (five championship titles), and KF Besa (three championship titles).[44] FC Ballkani being the recent champion with (three Championship titels) from the season 2021-22, 2022-23 and most recently this season in 2023-24 for the third time consecutive, in the history of the football club from Suhareka. [45] [46]
The two main clubs in football are FC Prishtina and KF Trepça who have achieved great success in football. The football club Prishtina FC was founded in 1922, while KF Trepça was founded ten years later in 1932. KF Trepça was part of the 1977–78 championship in the former Yugoslavia League in football. One year later they reached huge success since they were able to play in the finals for the former Yugoslavia Cup against HNK Rijeka in which they lost close.[33] They became the only Kosovan Football club ever to reach the finals in the Yugoslav Cup.[47] FC Prishtina became the first member of the league in 1983, and it achieved an impressive victory after beating Red Star in Belgrade with 3–1.
During this time Fadil Vokrri impressed all with his talent as he was part of so-called "Golden Generation" of Prishtina.[citation needed] They would finish their first season in 8th place. Fc Prishtina in the same season played in the Mitropa Cup, in which they came runners up to Eisenstadt from Austria. In the following seasons Prishtina were able to compete in the league until their last season in 1988. In the 1987–88 Yugoslav Cup Prishtina reached the semifinals, in which they would lose against Borac Banja Luka after penalties.
1981–1989: The Golden Generation of Fc Prishtina in Yugoslavia
| Season | League | Pos | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980–81 | Yugoslav Second League | 8 | 30 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 27 | 22 | 30 | 1st Round |
| 1981–82 | Yugoslav Second League | 9 | 30 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 36 | 32 | 28 | 1st Round |
| 1982–83 | Yugoslav Second League | 1 | 34 | 20 | 9 | 5 | 65 | 30 | 49 | 1st Round (promoted) |
| 1983–84 | Yugoslav First League | 8 | 34 | 15 | 3 | 16 | 36 | 55 | 33 | 1st Round |
| 1984–85 | Yugoslav First League | 10 | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 44 | 49 | 32 | 1st Round |
| 1985–86 | Yugoslav First League | 11 | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 37 | 47 | 32 | 1st Round |
| 1986–87 | Yugoslav First League | 14 | 34 | 13 | 4 | 17 | 47 | 52 | 30 | 1st Round |
| 1987–88 | Yugoslav First League | 18 | 34 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 43 | 59 | 27 | Semi-finals (relegated) |
The first unofficial Championship in Kosovo was held in 1991 in which 12 clubs participated.[48] After some years without UEFA Club European football Kosovo was finally recognized by the UEFA in 2016.[49] FC Ballkani became the first Kosovan football Club to qualify for an UEFA Competition, as they beat KF Shkupi in the play-off round away and home to take place for the Groupstage of the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League.[50][51] In Group G Ballkani faced in Prishtina in the debut CFR Cluj from Romania. They drew their first ever UEFA Club competition game with 1-1 thanks to a goal from Armend Thaqi, securing Kosovo's first ever points in a UEFA club competition.[52] After a close loss to Slavia Prague away from home, Ballkani would than secure Kosovo, maiden win in a UEFA competition as they beat Turkish side Sivasspor with an entertaining 3–4 win away in Turkey.[36] Despite some good performances Ballkani could not progress further as they secure only four points in the process, finishing in last place. It is still Kosovo's highest European club football success, in the history of the country.[53] Ballkani also secured its first ever win for the Country in the UEFA Champions League qualifying after beating in the first leg Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad with 2–0 in Prishtina.[54] After they lost to Ludogorets Razgrad away from home. Ballkani were able to win their next five matches in a row in the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying against Larne F.C. 3-1[55] and away with 4-0[56] as well. They beat Lincoln Red Imps F.C. in the following third round from Gibraltar with 2–0 at home and 3–1 away, to qualify for the Playoffs for the second year running.[57] In the Playoffs Ballkani were able to beat Bate Borisov from Belarus at home in the first leg with 4-1 despite the loss away from home with 0-1 they would qualify still for the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League for the second straight time as a Football Club in the history of Kosovo.[58][59] Other notable Kosovan Football clubs are FC Drita from Gjilan, who won the Superleague of Kosovo three times most recently in 2019–20.[60] In Europe their best result came at the previous season, as they nearly overcome the well known side Feyenoord Rotterdam in two legs, losing away with 2-3 despite leading with goals from Marko Simonovski and Astrit Fazliu in the process.[61] Kosovo strongest encounter in recent history. Fc Drita impress recently again, as they draw away from home against the well known Czech Republic side of Viktoria Plzeň in the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying.[62]
Performances by Kosovan Football clubs in UEFA competitions
- As of 9 November 2023