‘We believe in each other’: Kosovo’s hard road from war to World Cup hope

The Balkan nation only became Fifa members in 2016, but win over Turkey would secure first World Cup finals place

“We didn’t even know each other.” Samir Ujkani is thinking back to March 2014 when a makeshift Kosovo squad, largely thrown together from unglamorous corners of central Europe and Scandinavia, convened to face Haiti for the country’s first official game.

He was a rarity: a player with Serie A experience between the posts for Palermo and 20 caps for Albania, who was willing to bet on what has become one of international football’s great success stories.