After recently becoming a citizen of Kosovo, a state that declared independence from Serbia in 2008, Justin Doellman has learned that he will not be recognised as a ‘Kosovan’ in the Liga Endesa [ACB] as the nation is not acknowledged as a country in Spain.
This means that Doellman, who is likely to extend his contract with Barcelona, will not qualify as an EU permit player.
“We are still waiting to see a lot of things and you should first have a club which wants to register a player with this kind of passport, but have no doubt whatsoever that this passport in Spain is not valid, Miguel Cardenal, Spanish state secretary of sports told Spanish outlet El Mundo Deportivo.
“This is a country not recognised by Spain, so neither the player nor any other could get a certain status associated with a nationality that Spain does not recognise.”
Since declaring independence in February, 2008, Kosovo has become disputed territory and hasn’t been fully accepted as an independent country by all EU members, with one of those being Spain.
Doellman recently accepted to play for Kosovo in the upcoming Eurobasket 2017 qualifiers. Kosovo became members of FIBA in 2015.