Article by Aurelian Botezatu – Published on Sunday, March 29, 2026, 1:28 p.m. / Updated on Sunday, March 29, 2026, 1:42 p.m.
The attacker of the representative team Kosovo, Vedat Muriqi (31 years old), accepts that Turkey is favorite in the play-off for the 2026 World Cup, scheduled for Tuesday, from 21:45, but claims that his side have their home ground on their side.
Turkey eliminated the Romanian national team in the first leg of the play-off for qualification for the 2026 World Cup (1-0), and now they enter the Pristina duel with the Kosovo national team as favorites.
Vedat Muriqi: “Turkey is the favorite, but we are playing at home”
The striker of the hosts, Vedat Muriqi, does not dispute the status of the “Ottomans”, but claims that the home ground will be a great asset for the representative of the small state.
“Undoubtedly, Turkey is the favorite. Our advantage is that we are playing at home. They have players like Kenan Yildiz and Arda Guler who play for big teams like Juventus or Real Madrid. They are high values for Turkish football, but also for European and world football.
We will give our best and try to implement our game as a team to achieve our goal,” he told Turkish publication HT Spor. The Mallorca forward also spoke of the historical importance a possible World Cup qualification would have, comparing it to a special moment for the country that declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
€1 million bonus for qualifying for the 2026 World Cup
“If we manage to qualify for the World Cup, it will be like a second independence for us. Everyone is very excited and full of hope,” Muriqi said. He also suggested that this could be one of his last spells in a Kosovo shirt, given his age and personal ambitions.
“I will be 32 in April. If we manage to go to the World Cup and have a good run, I think it will be the right time to end my career with the national team,” concluded the Kosovo captain.
The players have already secured a €500,000 bonus from the government for beating Slovakia in the first leg of the World Cup play-offs. And if they pass Turkey and go to the final tournament in the USA, Mexico and Canada, they promised a total amount of 1,000,000 euros!
