Agim Bytyqin, the first president of the Football Federation of Kosovo, recalled the first Assembly of 1991 where he received the votes of the delegates to lead the football of Kosovo in the most difficult time.
In an interview for Sportin Total on KTV, he told how they started the championship and how everything was organized even though they had nothing.
"We had several meetings, where all the clubs from all over Kosovo participated. We held meetings in cafes and teahouses in Pristina, since we didn't have offices in the beginning. It was expected that they would kick us out of their leagues, but we didn't wait and left on our own, forming our own league. After several meetings, we held the first assembly where delegates from all clubs participated. In that assembly, I was voted by acclamation as chairman. There were so many delegates in that assembly that there were not even chairs. At first, it was called the Football League of Kosovo. They were chaired by a delegate from each city. We had nothing, we started from scratch. We had great support from the people, with props, food and more", he said initially.
Bytyqi recalled how the matches were interrupted several times by the Serbian police.
"On September 17, 1991, we started the championship. We played more through the villages, they gave us land and we made them like football fields. We have done everything, with the statute, with the regulations, with everything and we have started the championship. In the beginning, the Serbs got wild and interrupted our matches several times. They came with armored cars and police. I remember a match, Besa with Lirina in Suhareka, all the players supported them against the wall and we didn't know what would happen to them. There have been many threats. Many times they invited us and interrogated us at the police stations. Many people were beaten by the Serbian Police, it was a very difficult situation. Even our lives were in danger, but we did not stop", he recalled.
Bytyqi also spoke about the non-admission of Kosovo to UEFA and FIFA. He said that they always received negative answers because Kosovo was not a state. For the first time, Kosovo wrote to UEFA and FIFA in 1992.
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"Every year we have sent the representative to UEFA and FIFA, to tell about what we are doing. We have sent the status, the regulation, we have also informed them about the champion and the winner of the Cup. However, we have always received negative responses that we cannot be accepted as we are not a state. For the first time we wrote to them in 1992, but we did not manage to meet. We tried to go to Switzerland and when they came to Albania, but they didn't give us visas. We knew that we could not be accepted, but we tried and wanted to be in the eyes of UEFA, to inform them that we are playing, since even at that time there was discrimination in sports. In the beginning, we were the Football League of Kosovo. After 6 months, we announced the Federation of the Republic of Kosovo. With the latter, we harassed the Serbs a lot," he said.
Bytyqi said that they had contact with the Albanian Federation and through them they tried to contact UEFA. He said that they also had help from Tetova.
He has said that during the time he was in charge of Kosovo football, he was very afraid of the football players who were called to the Army.
