Just before the beginning of the European Championship for youth categories and the beginning of the preparations of the Kosovo National Team A for Eurobasket 2017, Kosovo Basketball Federation wants to publicly thank every player who joined our National Teams or has received an invitation to be part of these teams.
KBF has tried to gather all the best players with Kosovo origin and wants to make clear to the public that we have contacted in different ways every player with Kosovo origin, for which professional staff of the national teams were aware.
It’s a special honor and also a great responsibility that four players from Kosovo and citizens of the United States, have agreed to be part of the National Team of Kosovo and we are doing our best to provide them with Kosovo passport, for which we thank the Kosovo Presidency and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
At the same time we want to explain that for various reasons and excuses, a few players born in Kosovo or with Kosovo background did not participate in the gatherings of national teams.
In this group there are players who play in different colleges in the US and also players who have played or play for National Teams of Turkey, Finland, Germany, Austria and other European countries.
Considering that this is the first time that we’ll compete at all levels and group ages and given the distance of several players from Kosovo and the basketball of Kosovo, we’ve been extremely careful not to harm the image of these players and their ambitions to continued their education or career.
However, our understanding is being misused by certain players or their family members, who are spreading false rumors about KBF.
We would like to stress once again that all of the players, whose names are circulating in media, have been contacted by KBF and we remain open to all, until the expiration of all possible deadlines in FIBA.
Kosovo is creating its own identity in the international arena and needs every player who wants to defend the colors of this country and represent it.
This particularly applies to players who have created a profile in Europe and US, such as: Kenan Sipahi, Lis Shoshi, Edon Maxhunaj, Enis Murati, Besnik Bekteshi, but also all those who have been contacted earlier or those players who we have not been able to reach.
KBF is at the disposal of all of these players and will continue to be so in the future.