Minister Gashi's reaction to the broadcasting of the Champions League by the Serbian Radio Television

It is unacceptable that after so much effort, suffering and sacrifice to internationalize the sport of Ko-sovo, especially football, today there is a tendency to question our membership in UEFA and FIFA, from the claims to broadcast in Kosovo the UEFA Champions League, through the Radio Television of Serbia.

Kosovo is equal in UEFA and FIFA and for this we are mostly indebted to our sports legend, Fadil Vokrri. It is an insult to him and to all those who have given and sacrificed so much to ex-perience the emotions as we did in the premiere match between Kosovo and the Faroe Islands. If such a step is allowed, it can essentially dispute our equality with other states in UEFA and FIFA.

Kosovo is an independent and sovereign state and Serbia can never have any compe-tence over Kosovo, neither for sport nor for anything else. As a Minister of Sport, I expect all responsi-ble institutions to carry out their duties to guarantee the independence of Kosovo's sport, whether in our fields or on our TV screens.

Serbia can not organize football matches in the territory of Kosovo and it can not even get rights for television broadcasts in Kosovo, otherwise it would be a viola-tion of the territorial integrity of our state.