Albania, Kosovo To Hold Joint Basketball League

TIRANA, Albania: Albania and Kosovo agreed to hold one joint basketball league at a signing ceremony in Tirana.

Eight men’s teams will compete in the league this season under an agreement between the two basketball federations late Thursday.

Kosovo became a full member of the International Basketball Federation in 2015. Nine teams competed in its annual championship last season, three more than Albania.

Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama hoped the agreement would be followed by similar cooperation in other sports.

Turgay Demirel, president of FIBA Europe, attended the ceremony.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, around a decade after Belgrade sent troops into its former territory to crush an uprising by ethnic Albanian separatists.

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