The Italian newspaper "Corriero dello sport" has paid attention to the World Cup play-off final between Kosovo and Turkey, creating a portrait of the Kosovo team and focusing on the Italian element of the team.
"Kosovo for history, the small nation dreams of the World Cup: from Muric to Zhegrova, how much Italy!" is the title of the article in the Italian newspaper, which then extends the panorama of the origin of the coach, Franco Foda, the touch of the Italian championship by Vedat Muriqi and the current presence in Serie A of Amir Rrahmani, Edon Zhegrova, Mërgim Vojvoda, Arijinet Muric.
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Kosovo for history, the small nation dreams of the World Cup: from Muric to Zhegrova, so much Italy!
This Balkan tale is a mix of roots, departures, returns and children scattered across Europe. Kosovo dreams of its first World Cup and today America doesn't seem so far away. The incredible victory in Slovakia, 4-3, has given even more power to the ambition of a young national team as a state, but already rich in history, identity and belonging.
And within this dream there is also a bit of Napoli, because the captain is Amir Rrahmani, injured, but who will support his teammates tomorrow in Pristina. More than a national team, Kosovo is almost a sentimental map. Of the twenty-three players gathered, thirteen were born abroad and only ten in the country. Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Croatia, even Belgium: this is the map of Kosovo, from the children of the diaspora and emigration who have grown up far away, but remain connected to a jersey that for many of them has deeper meanings than football itself.
It's a team built on two souls: that of those who stayed and that of those who left. And perhaps this is precisely its strength.
Kosovo, the Venetian origins of coach Franco Foda
Coach Franco Foda is also a figure who well illustrates this idea of a “mixed” identity. Born in Germany, of Italian descent on his father’s side, his family from Vittorio Veneto, he has always had more than one world inside him. As a player and then as a coach he has made discipline his trademark, but in Kosovo he has found something else: a team to shape not only tactically, but also emotionally. He was coach of Austria at Euro 2020, but since 2024 he has been leading a dressing room where different accents, streets and schools of football coexist, united by a common hunger.
Kosovo, former Lazio player Muriqi as an attacking reference
The technical heart of the team beats mainly between the attack and the attacking midfield. The former Lazio player, the "pirate" Vedat Muriqi, remains the main offensive reference and the most recognizable face of the group. Next to him is pure talent like Juventus' Edon Zhegrova, born in Germany but also raised in Kosovo, a player who ignites the imagination, but who remained on the bench for the entire ninety minutes of the semi-final against Slovakia.
In goal, Sassuolo goalkeeper Arijinet Muric; in defense, Mërgim Vojvoda from Como. In midfield, experience and speed with Valon Berisha, another son of the diaspora, and qualities distributed in a group that mixes Balkan physicality with European formation.
Kosovo believes in qualifying for the 2026 World Cup
It is no coincidence that Kosovo, although a new reality in international football, has already built its own identity. It does not have the depth of the big teams, but it has a special enthusiasm, intensity and motivation. For many of these boys, reaching the World Cup would mean much more than participating in a tournament: it would be the fulfillment of a sporting and national identity still in construction.
And then, yes, the dream is real. Not easy, but real. Kosovo believes and clings to the thirteen thousand viewers of Pristina, but also to its children scattered across the continent.
