The International Football Federations Thread

[Bobfoc]

At least nobody was watching.

[Lineker]

The court of arbitration for sport (Cas) has ordered Fifa to reconsider Gibraltar’s application for membership and submit it to congress as soon as possible.

The Gibraltar FA had appealed to Cas against a Fifa executive committee decision, taken in September 2014, to reject its application for membership.

Cas said on Monday that Fifa’s congress “shall take all necessary measures to admit the Gibraltar Football Association as a full member of Fifa without delay”.

Gibraltar has been a member of European soccer’s governing body Uefa since 2013.

[MDK]

It would Rock if they got in

[Lineker]

Quote

Kosovo was accepted as a member of Uefa on Tuesday, becoming the 55th member of European football’s governing body despite strong opposition from neighbouring Serbia, from which it declared independence in 2008.

Uefa’s annual congress voted by 28 votes to 24 to accept Kosovo’s application. Two votes were declared invalid.

Kosovo journalists outside the hall cheered the decision, which means teams from Kosovo can enter European club and national team competitions and paves the way for the republic to apply for Fifa membership.

The Kosovo president Hashim Thaci wrote on his Facebook page: “Kosovo in Uefa! The best news for countless fans in our republic. Now we will play in international championships, some games will be won some will be lost but no one will ever keep us out from green fields.”

Before the vote, the Serbian FA president Tomislav Karadzic had urged the Congress to reject the application, saying it was a case of politics interfering with sport.

“This is a political, not a footballing proposal,” he said. “We are facing a stern test, we must say no to politics, no to divisions that are maybe detrimental.

“It would create tumult in the region and open a Pandora’s box throughout Europe.”

Kosovo will apply next week to join Fifa and could play in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers if accepted.

Kosovo were granted permission two years ago to play friendly matches but with restrictions, which included a ban on displaying national symbols or playing national anthems at games.

[Adam]

Does that mean they'll be in the Euro 2020 qualifiers and Nations League, then?

[stokeriño]

Quote

Before the vote, the Serbian FA president Tomislav Karadzic had urged the Congress to reject the application, saying it was a case of politics interfering with sport.

“This is a political, not a footballing proposal,” he said. “We are facing a stern test, we must say no to politics, no to divisions that are maybe detrimental.

A pretty dim argument, considering that rejecting the application is an equally political move.

[FestiveJack]

Might be too late to claim Januzaj but they should definitely try to.

[Baddar]

Well he went to the World Cup and has 6 Belgium caps, so I'm assuming it is.

[Cymbols]

I *think* that there's a loophole that would allow him to change as Kosovo weren't a member at the time he made his decision. 

[DFF]

12 hours ago, Interim Cymbols said:

I *think* that there's a loophole that would allow him to change as Kosovo weren't a member at the time he made his decision. 

Yeah, surely it'd be somewhat similar to when the USSR split? I believe that there were players who initially declared (and played) for Russia, only later to re-declare when their specific home nation gained a national football team.

[MDK]

2 hours ago, DFF said:

Yeah, surely it'd be somewhat similar to when the USSR split? I believe that there were players who initially declared (and played) for Russia, only later to re-declare when their specific home nation gained a national football team.

Some players played for the USSR, The CIS and whatever new country they were born in. Same with Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.

[Lineker]

Serbia and Montenegro too.

[Lineker]

BBC Sport understands there is a very good chance Fifa will give Kosovan footballers who play for other national teams the unprecedented choice of switching. Watford midfielder Valon Behrami, 31, and Stoke City midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri, 24, were born in Kosovo but play international football for Switzerland.

Listen: The story behind Kosovo's rise to gaining Uefa membership

[Lineker]

Michel Platini has had his ban from football upheld, although CAS have reduced it from six to four years. Platini  will resign as president of UEFA in the coming days.

[DFF]

On ‎06‎/‎05‎/‎2016 at 16:38, Lineker said:

BBC Sport understands there is a very good chance Fifa will give Kosovan footballers who play for other national teams the unprecedented choice of switching. Watford midfielder Valon Behrami, 31, and Stoke City midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri, 24, were born in Kosovo but play international football for Switzerland.

Listen: The story behind Kosovo's rise to gaining Uefa membership

This is potentially massive for them. There's a host of pretty darn good players that have ended up representing other countries to this point that, if they all decided to play for Kosovo, could make them a middle tier side in the European game pretty much immediately.

[Benji]

On 06/05/2016 at 16:38, Lineker said:

BBC Sport understands there is a very good chance Fifa will give Kosovan footballers who play for other national teams the unprecedented choice of switching. Watford midfielder Valon Behrami, 31, and Stoke City midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri, 24, were born in Kosovo but play international football for Switzerland.

Listen: The story behind Kosovo's rise to gaining Uefa membership

Out of interest, is that unprecedented in the sense it's never been an issue before, or in the sense that it has and someone has gone against a previous historic ruling? Seems weird that in sixty plus years it would never have been an issue before.

[stokeriño]

40 minutes ago, Benji said:

Seems weird that in sixty plus years it would never have been an issue before.

Maybe it's unprecedented because most historical cases have been a larger nation vanishing and splitting up into its component parts (USSR, Yugoslavia, etc.) and so players from the defunct nation joined the new nations without obvious alternative/controversy, whereas not only does Serbia still exist, but Kosovo-born players have been playing for all sorts of countries (that sort of thing being much more common these days) so it's a complication that may not have been massively relevant even in the last 60 years.

[Benji]

Yeah the USSR split was my first thought until I realised. Still seems odd that in 60 years it would never ever been an issue.

[Lineker]

Quote

Kosovo won their first fully-recognised international courtesy of a 2-0 victory over Faroe Islands, despite playing for nearly an hour with 10 men.

Albert Bunjaku headed Kosovo into the lead just before half-time, shortly after Manchester City's Bursant Celina was sent off for shoving an opponent.

Elbasan Rashani finished off a counter-attack to seal Kosovo's win in stoppage time in Frankfurt, Germany.

The Faroes had Bogi Petersen dismissed 10 minutes from full-time.

"I expected a difficult game and it was even more difficult with 10 players," said Kosovo coach Albert Bunjaki. "We have to work hard but I can say Kosovo has a good future in the football."

Kosovo was accepted as a member of European soccer's governing body Uefa in May, with Fifa accepting them the following week.

[Colly]

I hope Shefqi Kuqi comes out of retirement.