Female Football in Kosova Sanije Krasniqi. Women s football: Played, Watched, Talked about!

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1 Female Football in Kosova Sanije Krasniqi Women s football: Played, Watched, Talked about! FREE Conference University of Copenhagen, June 2013

2 This paper is a work in progress. Please do not quote without explicit written permission of the author. Introduction Female football in Kosova started on the early 80s, but the first female team was not registered until This team was founded in Prishtina (our capital) and was named after it: FFC Prishtina, while it contained girls from all around Kosova.An interesting fact to mention is that in the first selection from a total of 300 interested girls, 60 of them were qualified as players with potential. In FFC Pristina was introduced to female second league in ex Yugoslavia and after one year it managed to enter the first league (year ). This team used to train in Prishtina, but the games were held in 5 biggest city stadiums of Kosova.

3 1. Dark Years are also known as the dark years of football in Kosovo.No female football games were played during these times. Male football was held in miserable conditions, while all the clubs were excluded from their own stadiums. Male football clubs used to play in improvised fields anywhere they could (mostly in the dust).unfortunately by the early 90s, as everything else had stopped in Kosovo(because of the repressions and occupation from Serbia that happened to Kosova), this club stopped the activity too. Due to this new situation and circumstances that were ongoing during the years , we/kosovar Albanians have had no activity at all regarding the female football clubs.

4 2. After The War Immediately after the war (june 99), with the presence of the international community and their help in every sphere of our life (and sport in particular), things began to change. In the year 2000, ex-player and captain of FFC Prishtina AferditaFazlija was the first woman to be chosen as vice president of Kosova Football Federation. Meanwhile, with the development of football in our country the first women referee was introduced to male competitions (Sanije Krasniqi). This happened mainly due to the process of female inclusion in football, but other factors include the lack of female football teams and possibilities for females to participate in football. In 2002, a new female football team was founded (the first one after the 90s) and was named FFC Kosova Prishtinë. This team continued training on voluntary bases with the intention of improving anddeveloping players skills, in order to be ready to be part of the first league of Kosova (whenever its formation would happen). The league was finally formed in 2010 containing 7 teams back then and developed to 10 teams until today. Today, the Football Federation of Kosova organizes the league competition, cup competition, different tournaments, international seminars for females and other international internships. Even though the female football in Kosova is exceeding the limits every day passing by, problems remain quiet big, such as:

5 3. The biggest difficulties Kosovo s female football faces today are: Lack of financial support (usually on voluntary bases),lack of professional coaches, lack of media coverage, political status, instable finances, inappropriate and sometimes even bad infrastructure etc. One of the most deserved persons for the organizing and development of female football league was Mrs. Aferdita Fazliu (ex captain of FFC Prishtina, newly appointed as head coach of Kosova Female National Team). A big contribution was also given by Sports Department in the Ministry of Sports, Football Federation of Kosova, foreign and local NGO s (CCPA-OFFS etc), US Embassy (cultural and education exchanges),itd, local government, private persons, international clubs (Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen) etc. TODAY: Today, because Kosovo is not officially recognized by the United Nations as an independent state, Kosovo s Football Association is not recognized by UEFA and FIFA. the best female footballers of Kosovo therefore play for foreign national teams (e.g. Germany and Sweden).

6 The rest of the female elite players play for the Albanian National Team (8 out of 11 first team players there are from Kosovo). Kosovo national team organizes camps and friendly matches.

7 4. Female players playing abroad Fatmire "Lira" Bajramaj is an Kosova Albanian football player representing Germany. German Footballer of the Year 2011, FIFA Ballon d Or 2010 (third place), UEFA Women's Champions League , UEFA Women s Cup , German Cup , Bundesliga , , FIFA World Cup 2007, UEFA European Championship 2009, Olympic Bronze Medal 2008, UEFA Women s Under 19 Championship Kosovare Asllani,Kosova Albanian Football Player Girl currently plays for FFC PSG and Sweden s Woman National Team

8 5. Recognition by FIFA FIFA Article 10 Any Association which is responsible for organizing and supervising football in its country may become a Member of FIFA. In this context, the expression country shall refer to an independent state recognised by the international community. For the time being Kosovo has been recognized by 103 countries world-wide and from 22 of 27 European Union member states However, recognition by the United Nations is missing In February 2013 Kosovo won the right to play friendly matches against other countries after a recent ruling from FIFA, but is still barred from competing in qualifying tournaments to participate in the World Cup and European Championship. "The FIFA Executive Committee specified that matches should not be played with national symbols (flags, national anthems, etc.) and that the authorisation was valid for youth, amateur, women and club football. In addition, matches in the territory of Kosovo are subject to a prior authorisation of the Football Association of Serbia." Sport works primarily by bridging relationships across social, economic and cultural divides within society, and by building a sense of shared identity and fellowship among groups that might otherwise be inclined to treat each other with distrust, hostility or violence.

9 6. Sanije Krasniqi First Female Refere in Kosova My generation was growing up during occupation, and also we were part of the war in Kosova.I didn t have a chance to became a football player. After the war the only chance for me to be part of football was to became a referee in male league. I started in 2000 until now, from the lowes league until Super- League. During this years I worked a lot for creating a female league (2010). From 2011 I stopped referring in male league, now I referee only I women league, because I will do everything to help I female football because I missed everything in football during mu childhood. CONCLUSION: Through this paper we wanted to emphasize the importance of female football in Kosova, the benefits of female inclusion in this sport, the advantages of having a high percentage of young generations among general population, day-by-day growing infrastructure etc.