Kosovo Awaits European Football Body Vote

Exactly 30 years after he signed a professional contract to play for one of the most prominent Serbian football teams, Fadil Vokrri headed to Budapest on Monday to witness a vote that could yield recognition for Kosovo's football club in the international arena.

Members of the European Football Association, UEFA, are expected to vote tomorrow on Kosovo Football Federation's application for membership.

The vote comes 14 months after the federation submitted its application. To obtain membership, Kosovo needs 28 votes from UEFA's 54 members.

A football legend in Kosovo, Vokrri started his career with his hometown Podujeva football club, Llapi, before moving on to Pristina, Partizan, France's Nimmes and Turkey's Fenerbahçe. Today, Vokrri is president of the Kosovo Football Federation.

"We hope that we will get the majority of the votes and open new trails for youth. We have never stopped working on UEFA membership," Vokrri said last week during a meeting with Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi.

Kosovo football teams are currently unable to compete internationally, but two years ago FIFA agreed to allow the Kosovo national team play "friendlies" with other countries under special conditions. One of them is that the inscription "Kosovo" must include an asterisk (*) on the back of footballers' jerseys.

Serbia opposes Kosovar membership in UEFA. Tomislav Karadzic, president of Serbia's football association, FSS, says that Serbia has fought hard to stop Kosovo's membership since 2012.

"We have managed, not without great effort, to remove the request for admission from the agenda and prevent a great injustice from being done four times," Karadzic said.

In Kosovo, the vote is seen as a hope for Kosovo football clubs and other...