FSHF head Armand Duka shows why he co-operated with Serbia, not with Kosovo

In an interview for the “show AS” in RTK, vice president of UEFA, has said football federation leaders in Kosovo and Northern Macedonia had responded that they could not be part of the project.

Serbia, Albania close to receiving confidence from U EFA to co-organised the U21 European Group Football Championship in 2027. Final decision to be made at U Executive Committee meeting EFA on 16 December. The idea of organising the championship jointly from Albania and Serbia has not been well received by a number of typho-groups in Kosovo, but also in Albania.

We have previously talked to Kosovo and North Macedonia, but have not had the possibilities. So the first discussion was with these two countries. The leaders of the two federations have said that we cannot be part of this project. Then we went on. It's normal to have different opinions, given history. The project is sports, we co-operate with the Serbian Federation and not with the Serbian state, police or anyone else. We're not hosting history. It's not good for the political connotation of football”, Duka said.

According to him, this project represents a great benefit for Albania, as National U21 will automatically participate in the championship without going through the stages of qualifications. Another benefit, according to him, is improving infrastructure in the country.

“Arsie of co-operation with another state, with the state of Serbia, respectively, is the lack of infrastructure. Beneff for Albania, organising this event is that the U21 Nationalist participates in this organisation without participating in qualifications, the other reason is infrastructure”, Duka has said.