Ilija Ivic takes part in a training session in Pristina, Kosovo on February 26, 2020. Photo: AFP

 

Sixteen-year-old Ilija Ivic just wants to dodge the abuse and play football.

But as the first ethnic Serb picked to represent Kosovo on a professional youth squad, there is a price to pay in a region still bitterly divided along ethnic lines. 

After he was invited to join Kosovo's under-19 team last month, Ivic became the target of online attacks and intense media scrutiny.  

The most scathing reactions come from fellow Serbs who have branded him a "traitor" for representing Albanian-majority Kosovo, a former Serbian province whose independence Serbs have never accepted. 

Kosovo, which broke away in 2008, is still home to small pockets of Serbs who remain loyal to Belgrade and rarely mix with their Albanian neighbors. 

When Ivic was called up from his Pristina Flamurtari club to play on the U19 squad, the reaction was explosive.

"Bomb in Kosovo - a Serb on a Kosovo team," read one tabloid headline in Belgrade.

The backlash has affected his family, with ­Ivic's mother Tanja swiftly sacked from her job in Gracanica, a Serb enclave in Kosovo, without official explanation.

For now, her husband Dusan is still holding down his job as a high school accountant. 

"But I'm afraid that I'm going to be the target of similar measures," he told AFP. 

Ivic, a tall, confident defender with a stylish haircut, says he tries to focus on football. 

"When it comes to politics, comments and malice don't affect me," he told AFP on the sidelines of a practice session with Flamurtari in Pristina.

"I look at it through the prism of sports and football," he continued. "I will answer them on the pitch." 

One of his Albanian teammates, however, said it was obvious the youngster was under strain.

"He does not comment on the pressure, but it is visible on his face," said 27-year-old midfielder Lorik Maxhuni.

No regrets 

Some Kosovo Albanians have rallied around Ivic, who local media describe as one of the most talented football players of his generation in Kosovo. 

"Let Ilija play freely wherever he chooses," Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti wrote on social media, calling the teenager a victim of "segregation."

The US Embassy also weighed in, tweeting that Ivic "inspires all young people in Kosovo to work hard, develop their talents and follow their dreams."

Most of Kosovo's Albanian and Serb youth attend separate schools and do not speak one another's languages, hardening the divide that opened during their parents' generation.

But Ivic has picked up some Albanian from his teammates.

"We also use English. It depends on the situation," he said. 

In a small ground floor home on the outskirts of Gracanica, his three-member family now lives on only the father's salary of around 600 euros ($677).

But his mother says she has no regrets.

"It is in my interest that my child does what he loves," she told local media.

Their closest Serb neighbors also appear supportive.

"I want to tell everyone: Let the boy do what he wants for goodness sake," said a middle-aged Serb woman who introduced herself as Dara.

For his part, Ivic shows no intention of refusing the squad's invitation.

"I just want to play football and that's it," said the teenager, breathless after an ­intense training session. 

Kosovo was granted full International Olympic Committee (IOC) membership in December 2014.

The IOC said it had started reviewing the Kosovo file in 2009, a year after the region declared independence.

Kosovo's Olympic Committee was formed in 1992 with more than 30 affiliated national federations, 13 of which are Olympic sports federations.

Six of those - table tennis, archery, judo, sailing, weightlifting, and modern pentathlon - are full members of their respective international federations.

Olympic membership through a ­national Olympic Committee allows athletes to compete in the summer and winter Games while also accessing IOC funds for the development of sport in their region.

In 2016, football's European governing body UEFA admitted Kosovo as its 55th member.

Later in the same year, Kosovo was accepted in FIFA, football's world governing body, during their 66th congress in Mexico with 141 votes in favor and 23 against.