Kosovo to Wear Special Edition Kit for Euro 2020 Qualifier Against England

Kosovo are to wear a special edition shirt created by Swiss kit supplier 14Fourteen for Tuesday night’s Euro 2020 qualifier against England at St Mary’s in Southampton.

The unique jersey combines elements from Kosovo’s blue home shirt, yellow away shirt and black third shirt to produce a striking design.

England have made a 100% winning start in Euro 2020 qualifying Group A, but Kosovo are also doing well and are on course to beat Czech Republic, Montenegro and Bulgaria to a top two finish and an automatic place at the final tournament next summer.

Kosovo, who only joined FIFA and UEFA in May 2016 and then lost nine consecutive 2018 World Cup qualifiers, haven’t actually been beaten since November 2017 – as it happens, the last of those nine straight defeats against Iceland in Reykjavik.

Starting with friendlies against Latvia, Madagascar, Burkina Faso and Albania and continuing into the UEFA Nations League - Kosovo earned comfortable promotion from UEFA Nations League D - and the current Euro 2020 qualifiers, it is now a run of 15 games without loss.

The current Kosovo squad is made up of players spread right across Europe. Vice-captain Valon Berisha made his name at Red Bull Salzburg and has been with Lazio since 2018, while a handful of individuals might be quite familiar to UK audiences.

Midfielder Bersant Celina, still only 23 years of age, was formerly an academy graduate at Manchester City and now plays for Swansea in the Championship.

Young goalkeeper Ari Muric is still contracted to Manchester City and is loan at Nottingham Forest, while defender Florent Hadergjonaj is at Huddersfield, and forward Atdhe Nuhiu has played 239 games for Sheffield Wednesday.