Xherdan Shaqiri Comments on Possibly Playing for Kosovo

Switzerland winger Xherdan Shaqiri has conceded he could play for Kosovo in the future should the country of his birth decide to make him captain.

The Stoke City man was speaking about Kosovo on Tuesday, with a key clash with Romania looming in the UEFA European Championship on Wednesday. He was asked whether the prospect of playing for Kosovo, recently recognised by FIFA as an independent football nation, would appeal to him.

“What if the coach of Kosovo wants me as the captain?” said Shaqiri, per David Hytner of the Guardian. “Of course, I am thinking about it then.”

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As noted by Hytner, although the 24-year-old has featured for the Swiss national side on 54 occasions already, he could switch nationalities due to the fact that Kosovo will be a new affiliate nation. As such, they will take part in the upcoming qualifying games for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Shaqiri was born in Gjilan, Kosovo, before his family moved to Switzerland when he was an infant. After they declared for their adopted home nation, the winger made his debut as a teenager for the country in 2010 and has gone on to become a talismanic figure for the team, bagging 17 goals on the international stage.

He started the ongoing tournament well against Albania, too, as the Swiss secured a hard-earned 1-0 win. Per Ben Grounds of the MailOnline, there’s a swagger about Shaqiri on the international stage:

Despite seemingly relishing this responsibility, Shaqiri was overlooked by Vladimir Petkovic during his recent search for a new skipper. The role’s former incumbent Gokhan Inler was left out of the squad for the Euros after struggling for regular minutes with Leicester City. As reported by Hytner, “Shaqiri was not happy” about the decision to hand Stephan Lichtsteiner the armband.

As well as the Stoke man, there are other players in the Swiss squad with Kosovo and Kosovo-Albanian backgrounds, all of whom would be eligible to switch nationalities. They include new Arsenal man Granit Xhaka—who played against his brother Taulant in the clash with Albania—as well as Valon Behrami, Admir Mehmedi, Blerim Dzemaili and Shani Tarashaj.