Kosovo accepted into UEFA

Yesterday Tuesday May 5th Kosovo was elected to become the 55th member of UEFA. Their election has ended an eight year battle to finally get accepted into European football's governing body. Next week they will find out if their FIFA application is accepted or not and many reports online suggest that should they obtain FIFA membership they'll be fast tracked in the world cup qualifiers that commence in September.

Their acceptance into UEFA and their pending FIFA application has been met with obvious joy and relief in Kosovo. However in the build up to the congress in which they were accepted the Serbian football association were crystal clear in their views of it all. No Kosovo in UEFA. In fact the election of Kosovo was very tight with the final result being 28-24 in favor. One vote less and Kosovo will have failed to get the majority of votes needed to be accepted into UEFA.

The City Stadium in Prishtina, home of FC Prishtina
source: wikipedia

Kosovo's election means they'll be involved in the Euro 2020 qualifiers and their club teams will now be eligible to participate in both champions and Europa leagues. No details have yet been released in terms of when the club teams will take part in European competition but I am assuming it will be in time for the 2017-18 season.

With Kosovar clubs entering European competition it'll force a change in which teams will enter at certain rounds of the competition. Presently in the champions league qualifiers the first qualifying round features the bottom eight leagues in Europe. With Kosovo starting at the bottom of the coefficient table this will bump up Estonia into the second qualifying round as it stands.
When Gibraltar entered UEFA in 2013 it wasn't until the 2014-15 season that they entered clubs into European competition. However UEFA only allowed them two teams to compete in both competitions. The current bottom two of the coefficient table Andorra and San Marino are only allowed two sides in the Europa league with one each in the champions league. Kosovo could be only allowed to enter two sides when they eventually take part in European competition.

The local league has been going since 1945 and the traditional power has been FC Prishtina who have seventeen titles to date. Other sides who have had their hands on the title on multiple occasions are KF Vëllaznimi, KF Besa and FK Trepca. This season the league is being led by Feronikeli with five rounds left to play. They are seven points clear of Hajvalia. FC Prishtina are struggling in 8th in the twelve team Superliga.
Next season will see the league take on a different challenge with the expected European places on offer for the top ranking sides.

Kosovo National team 
source: Berta/Ap

Another agenda of their membership is the personnel who will line out for the national team. The likes of Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka, Lorik Cana, Adnan Januzaj and Valon Behrami are all Kosovo born and eligible to play for the national team.

However all of them are established internationals with the likes of Switzerland and Belgium. The Albanian national side is made up of a few Kosovar players also.
The success of their national side will depend on how many of the high profile players switch their international careers to Kosovo. On paper at least it has the makings of a decent side that would see them on possibly the same level as neighbors Albania.

Kosovo's acceptance into UEFA could in theory at least set the wheels in motion for other potential applications from other unrecognized nations. I have seen one report already suggesting that Crimea could possibly make an application despite not being recognized as an independent nation. A line really does need to be drawn because this has potential to get messy down the line. We haven't heard the last of Kosovo's election either with Serbia likely to take the decision to the court of arbitration of sport to reverse the decision.