The deep defeat by Denmark highlighted the lack of local players in Kosovar clubs

Kosovo's basketball players have closed yet another cycle of FIBA ​​competitions without success. "Dardans", who aimed to advance from the first pre-qualifying stage for "Eurobasket 2025", finished last in Group C, which consisted of three representatives. In four played matches, the balance of Kosovo is one win and three losses.

Kosovo ended this cycle on Thursday night with a deep loss to Denmark. The duel played in Naestved ended with the numbers 105:71 for one of the deepest defeats of Kosovo since participating in the official FIBA ​​competitions. Besides Denmark, which it had defeated in November last year in Pristina, Kosovo also had Norway in the group. From Norway, which was returning to the international stage after 20 years, Kosovo lost two matches.

The Kosovo Basketball Federation (FBK) has admitted that they expected to move to the second pre-qualifying stage. FBK managers have warned that they will make an assessment of the situation, not only in the men's A team, but in all generations.

The general secretary of the FBK, Elvira Dushku, said on Friday that the defeat in Mitrovica by Norway cost Kosovo a lot, this match played in February this year, which ended with the victory of the guests 95:92 after the continuation of five minutes.

"In fact, we have been waiting for the transition. So let's advance from the first pre-qualifying stage. The loss to Norway at the beginning of this year has cost us a lot", said Dushku for KOHEN.

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Dushku has explained the last defeat by Denmark with the absence of several key players. The representative traveled to Denmark with only 11 players. Valon Bunjaku and Mikaile Tmushiq were injured during the preparations, while Meriton Ismaili, who was on the bench, was not ready either. Erjon Kastrati was not collected at all due to physical problems. Lis Shoshi was also absent. There was no naturalized American in Kosovo in Naestved.

Of the four games this campaign, only the one against Norway at home was Scott Bamforth. In the other three matches, Kosovo played with locals, including the naturalized Amin Hoti.

"Now we are waiting for all the activities of the representatives to finish and then we will make an assessment of the situation in each of them in both competitions, starting from the coaching staff to the players", warned Dushku, who also spoke for the deep defeat by Denmark. "We were defeated because the team was not complete and we asked the players to commit to the maximum and do their best on the floor."

Dushku has insisted that FBK is very interested in raising the level of representatives. As for the lack of competition in the A team, he emphasized that the clubs should do more serious work with the new generations. She has warned that if necessary, drastic changes will be made so that in other FIBA ​​competitions, Kosovo will have a significantly better performance.

"We are very interested in raising the level not only of the A team, but of all representatives. I say this because the investments are not missing and they are very large. So, if necessary, we will make drastic changes just to improve and do much better in the next competitions we will appear", Dushku insisted.

Even the basketball player of Kosovo, Drilon Hajrizi, has admitted that the loss from Denmark was very deep. He mentioned the numerous absences, but said that these do not justify the performance they had against Denmark. Hajrizi has emphasized that since the first gathering for these pre-qualifications, they have never been completed. According to Hajrizi, the clubs should invest more in young players because the representative team is facing a lack of locals and this is then reflected in bad results.

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In fact, interest in basketball has returned rapidly in the country. The gyms in the last matches were overcrowded. Clubs constantly boast that they work with new categories as well. The number of basketball schools in the country is large and so is the number of children involved in this sport. But there is a lack of quality local players in the senior teams and most clubs rely on foreign players.

This situation is not changing for two decades. And representative matches present the true situation. What quality domestic players are increasingly scarce. So much so that it is a problem to form a team of XNUMX only with locals. Apart from Hoti, Mikaile Tmushiq, also an important player of the representative team, also received the passport of Kosovo.

"As a team, since we started these gatherings, we have never been complete. Fate is turning its back on us and penalizing us, since we don't have a large pool of local players to cover the spaces that are being created due to injuries. This time we had a lot of absences and despite that we held on early in the match based on experience. But at some point Denmark's big rotation came into focus. From the first day to the last we were unlucky, although they are no excuses for this poor game we have shown because it is a deep result that should not have been. We have to leave these behind and look ahead and what we need to improve", added Hajrizi, who said that he hopes that in the future the team will be refreshed with a new local player. "I pray that in the next gatherings we will be complete. Every club has a lack of talent and whether it's poor work or something else, I don't know. We need to focus on young local players, prepare them and invest a lot in them, because we are in deficit of local players. I hope the time will come very soon to have the change of generation with some talents, which at the moment I don't see".

Hajrizi said that before the start of these pre-qualifications, there were hopes to pass to the second stage.

"When we saw the group at the beginning, we had hopes of passing, but it was not a surprise that we did not advance further", admitted Hajrizi.

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Currently, Christos Marmarinos from Greece is in charge of the Representative A of Kosovo. Marmarinos took over the leadership of Kosovo in January 2020 and is the third foreign coach after Damir Mullaomerovic and Brad Greenberg. Under the leadership of Marmarinos, Kosovo has played ten official matches, registering three wins and seven losses.

Only with Greenberg, Kosovo has passed the qualification stage. With Arben Krasniqi, Mulaomerovic and Marmarinos, there were no successful campaigns, at least in terms of results.