ABSTRACT
chapter in the break-up of Yugoslavia. As with some other states, one tactic for recognition has been to use the ‘soft power’ of sport, especially football, and to engender and promote an identity both internally and externally. Early recognition came with FIFA, UEFA and other international sporting organisation plus economic, political and social bodies like the IMF and the World Bank. However, recognition by the United Nations and the European Union has still eluded Kosovo, with opposition from Serbia and its supporters such as Russia and China. Its newly created national symbols have been forced to adopt a neutral and integrating representation. In sport, symbols have an important part to play in promoting and coalescing an identity for the ‘imagined community’. The chapter will consider whether this is possible when these symbols have been imposed upon the State.
