Spain will play against Kosovo … which it does not recognize as a country

This afternoon the draw for the qualifying phase for the 2022 World Cup was held, to be held in Qatar. Spain can be satisfied with the rivals that have touched it: Sweden, Greece, Georgia and Kosovo. However, the last of them has a peculiarity. And it is that Spain does not recognize Kosovo as an independent country. Despite this, UEFA and FIFA did not pick up the possibility of prohibiting the confrontation for political reasons, as they had done between other countries.

In fact, Kosovo came out as the first ball of the fifth pot. So, it would correspond to go to Group A, along with Portugal, Serbia, Ireland and Luxembourg. However, it went directly to Group B, with Spain and the rest of its members. The reason is that the draw, far from being pure, had many small conditions. One of them, as noted by the UEFA Executive Committee, were political conflicts. Thus the crossing between Gibraltar and Spain, between Armenia and Azerbaijan or between Ukraine and Russia was prohibited. Kosovo could not play against Bosnia-Herzegovia, or against Serbia, or against Russia. Thus, being paired in the Serbian group, he ran straight to the next available.

And it went to Spain, despite the fact that the State does not recognize Kosovo as independent. This story, which has caused a considerable stir at the political level, has an explanation. The main reason why Kosovo is not recognized is none other than the Catalan conflict. Thus, the Government considers Kosovo as part of Serbia, due to the similarities between both cases. Mariano Rajoy, in May 2018, did not attend the EU-Balkans Summit due to the fact that they were representatives of the country. It was the only state in the European Union that argued this reason for being absent.

Kosovo's independence

On February 17, 2008, With the support of the United States and most of the European Union countries, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence and a Republic was established. Serbia, on the contrary, continues to consider Kosovo as a region within its territory, relying on the Constitution and resolution 1244 of the United Nations Security Council.

Today, 90 of the 193 member states of the United Nations do consider Kosovo an independent nation. Serbia, Russia, China or Spain itself do not. Like most countries in America, Asia and Africa. In 2013, Serbia and Kosovo initially agreed to institutional relations as states, which was the beginning of understanding between both parties.

Why doesn't Spain recognize Kosovo?

Spain has always maintained a belligerent stance on this issue. The non-recognition was valued and agreed in 2008. Since then, different governments have taken power that have not given their arm to twist. Josep Borrell, Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2018, hinted that if Serbia and Kosovo reached an agreement, the country would change its mind. This is how I let him glimpse: “We are not going to be more Papist than the Pope.” At the moment, those talks don't seem close to reaching an agreement.

For the first time, Pedro Sánchez shared space with Kosovar leaders in pandemic. Figuratively space, since telematic meetings favored the presence of both parties without there being any symbols or images involved. Even so, the posture has not changed. Madrid continues to appeal to the understanding between Serbia and Kosovo to change its perspective. Now, the matter reaches football and it is unknown what will be the lines of action when the time for the confrontations comes.

The independence of Kosovo is directly related to the Catalan conflict. The pro-independence parties have shown their full support for the Republic for years. In his day, ERC and Convergència i Unió congratulated the country for its achievements and even presented motions to the Spanish Government so that it recognized Kosovo institutionally.

So that, one of the reasons why Spain resigns itself to declaring Kosovo as an independent region it is because they would be agreeing with a country with which the Catalan independence parties consider they have a lot in common. In this way, the matter could establish a lecture and encrust the conflict that is being experienced in the national territory. Anyway, Hashim Thaçi, Kosovar Prime Minister in 2018, stood out from the comparison: “Spain is not Serbia and Catalonia is not Kosovo”.