Prishtina is the epicenter of sport in Kosovo, where activity is organized across amateur and professional levels, sport organizations and clubs, regulated by the Kosovo Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. Prishtina is known for their success in Sports such as Football, Boxing, Basketball and Futsal. They compete for five seasons in the Yugoslav First League between 1983 and 1988 in which their best finish came in their first ever season in 1983-84 finishing in 8th place. In the same season they reached the Mitropa Cup finals of 1983-84, were FC Prishtina finished Runners up to Eisenstadt from Austria. as well as reaching the semifinals in the Yugoslav Cup in 1987-88.
In recent years Basketball is the most successful sport in Prishtina as KB Prishtina Winning two BIBL Championships in back to back seasons 2014-15 and 2015-16 being the only Basketball Team in Kosovo to do so. Also qualifying for the FIBA Europe Cup Play-offs in 2018-19. Reaching the Round of 16 playing against Pallacanestro Varese.
Sport clubs and organizations in Prishtina
Sport in Prishtina is organized in units called Municipal Leagues. There are seven Municipal Leagues in Pristina. The Football Municipal League consists of 18 clubs, the Basketball Municipal League consists of 5 clubs, the Handball Municipal League consists of 2 clubs, table tennis and chess consist of 6 clubs each, the Karate Municipal League consists of 15 and in the Municipal League of Tennis there are 2 clubs The list below displays some of the sport clubs registered in Kosovo's Accreditation Directorate. 89 clubs from Pristina populate the list, which apart from the more popular sports shown below also includes karate, shooting, weight lifting, swimming, skiing, taekwondo, chess, kick box, athletics, cycling, fishing, etc.
Football in Prishtina
Before there were any clubs or competition, after the end of the First World War, in 1919 football was played by soldiers, officers and students who studied abroad in the Universities of France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, England, Romania, Hungary etc. and began to return home to Pristina. One of these students, studying in France, brought the first football in Pristina in 1919. The ball was a present from a French doctor. After the arrival of the first ball in Pristina, it was mostly youngsters who kicked it around, unorganized and with no institutional support. During that time, only friendly matches were played. The city of Pristina was a small town of 16,000 citizens when in 1922, the first "blue" club named Kosova" was founded. The club consisted mainly of Pristina Garrison soldiers and did not participate in official competition due to not being registered. The oldest club of Kosovo was not competing in official levels, but was playing friendly matches with other teams, domestic and from the region. In 1926, Bashkimi football club was also founded in Pristina and consisted mainly of craftsmen. With the advantage of strong material consolidation in comparison to KF Kosova, Bashkimi was registered in the Sub league of football in Banovina, Skopje. In 1945, Bashkimi won the championship title in Kosovo, a success which they also repeated a year after. Following World War II, KF Bashkimi and KF Kosova continued to be active in the football field and they were joined by other clubs, such as Milicioneri, Bratsvo and Radniçki. In 1947, KF Bashkimi and KF Kosova merged into one club by the name of Proleter. Proleter changed its name to Jedinstvo in the 1948/1949. Jedinstvo which was strong in both economic and organizational aspect merged with Bratsvo from Pristina and Zheleznicari from Fushe Kosove. The new team named Kosova became leader in state championship by winning in two consecutive seasons during 1951/52 and 1953/54 Since 1960 the club has won 19 championship titles, including the last season of 2012/2013. During this period, KF Prishtina has become the only Kosovar football club to win the Kosovar Superliga and Kosovar Cup trophies in one season (2012/13). Their fan club is called Plisat. Some of the most notable players of this club who found their success in international clubs later on include Debatik Curri, Fadil Vokrri, Armend Dallku, Ardian Kozniku, Kushtrim Shala, Goran Dorovic, Zoran Batrovic.