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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Jack Snape

‘Anything is possible’: Kosovo one game away from World Cup fairytale

Kosovo players celebrate a goal during the 2026 World Cup qualification play-off semi-final against Slovakia in Bratislava
Kosovo players celebrate a goal during the 2026 World Cup qualification play-off semi-final against Slovakia in Bratislava. Photograph: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images

They are a World Cup fairytale, a footballing nation barely a decade old with fewer people than the state of South Australia. A Balkan West Virginia, but with a fraction of the area, and a chequered past.

Minnows Kosovo are one game away from their first appearance at a World Cup, and a place beckons in Group D alongside Australia, Paraguay and co-hosts the United States.

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