Sporting history for Kosovo was made today as their men’s U21 handball side became the first-ever team in any sport at any age to represent the country at a world championship.

Their Group C encounter against Croatia in the Pavillon Municipal de Deportes de Pontevedra may have ended in a 23:17 (14:11) loss, but it was an impressive performance on the world stage for the team who were also the first-ever team to qualify for an IHF World Championship through the IHF Trophy.

They managed this by winning the IHF Men’s Trophy Intercontinental Phase on home soil back in April and for captain, Jon Muqolli, the excitement has been building since then.

“Of course, since April we have been enjoying the feeling,” he said to IHF.info after the opening loss in Spain. “We have had this feeling from Kosovo to Frankfurt, and then from Frankfurt to here in Vigo and it has been special; it’s our first time so everyone is happy and smiling – we know what we are playing [for] and we are enjoying it.”

Lining up on court for the national anthem before the Croatia clash was extra special for Muqolli, who, as captain, had to help manage the emotional rollercoaster and expectations on the shoulders of his teammates.

“It was something different to hear it,” revealed Muqolli about the emotions he felt when he heard the Kosovo national anthem on court. “For Kosovo, it is the first time we are in a world championship and it was a pleasure to line up against such a strong team like Croatia – all the teams in our group are strong.

“But in the lead up to the match maybe we had too much emotion, maybe more than we [should have] because it was the first time for us, but it was a pleasure for me to talk to my players and tell them ‘everything is going to be alright’. We all had our phones on us before the game and we know all of Kosovo were watching us.”

Despite the expectation on the team Muqolli admitted he does not feel any extra pressure and knows that all he, and his fellow players can do, is give 100%.

“We will all try to do our best here in Spain,” he said. “I think we won’t disappoint our fans as we are trying our hardest to play great games. We all appreciate the support from them and hope they will not be disappointed by us.”

Kosovo kept in touch just until the end of the first half before Davor Dominikovic’s side took a six-goal lead in the 36th minute, which was the same difference for nearly the rest of the match.

But for Kosovan right-winger Albin Xhafolli, he had already written his name in the sporting history books of his country after just 90 seconds when he scored Kosovo’s first-ever goal at a world championship, cutting in from the right to slam home and make it 1:1.

“I don’t know what to say, it’s a great moment,” said Xhafolli to IHF.info about his opening strike. “It’s my country and I feel so happy for me and for the boys just to even make it to a world championship, but to score the first-ever goal for Kosovo is something big that I would never think would happen for me.

“Despite the loss, I am proud of how we started from the very first minute of the game as we were playing very good, and they made a few technical mistakes.”

Muqolli was equally as positive about the performance against a Croatia side who are aiming for a podium spot. 

“We are happy with all of our game, not only the first half,” he said. “We played very good in defence and offence, and we tried to do our best, but Croatia beat us physically as they are big, tall and have a lot of kilograms more than us.

“They also had a lot of options from the bench and played very nice with technique. Croatia have a handball tradition, they have everything, but it was a great feeling to play and I don’t know how to explain it.”

But, as is the norm for tournament handball, Muqolli, Xhafolli and the Kosovan team cannot spend too long thinking about the Croatia game and the history they made as they face Hungary on Thursday following a rest day tomorrow.

It will be another tough test for the inexperienced side but one that Muqolli is already looking forward to.

“I don’t know what to say about how we will prepare for Hungary because it is the first time for us at a world championship and we don’t have too much experience,” he admitted. “We can only go with what we feel is right. I hope there will be no injuries, and everything is going to be OK.

“But we will now try to recuperate our muscles, and then look at their game today,” he added. “We will try to do something different against them because they are tall too and we will try to beat them technically.”