FAQ about the football match Kosovo-England
Do you have questions about Kosovo-England? Do you want to know more about tickets? About the bars in Pristina? About safety, or transport? Well, that is why we made this FAQ especially for you: all you need to know about Kosovo-England.
This is an important question, and of course we like to help you with this essential matter.
Those six seconds should be easy to learn. The text is Je-mi Dar-da-net, Je-mi-Ko-so-va (we are Dardanians, we are Kosovo). If you want to hear the whole song, just go to the original youtube video. Or you can watch this singer Savanna singing an alternative version of it.
Kosovo fans call themselves Dardanët, which in English means Dardanians. The Dardanians were an ancient tribe, that lived in and around the place that we now call Kosovo.
Good question. Many football players and popular British-Kosovan singers like Dua Lipa and Rita Ora create an eagle (with two heads) with their hands. With this symbol, Albanians around the world (92% of Kosovo is Albanian) show their pride of being Albanian. You can see the eagle on the Albanian flag as well.
Some people try to ‘criminalize’ this symbol, like when Xhaka and Shaqiri scored both goals against Serbia at the World Cup 2018. But it is just a peaceful and friendly thing to do.
So, if you want to be cool in Kosovo and make friends: do your hands like Rita and Dua.
Unfortunately, the stadium in Pristina is pretty small. Even for the home fans, it is a really difficult thing to purchase tickets. Normally, tickets are sold within 15 minutes. The website Tiks.app has the exclusive rights to sell the tickets. The sale started the 12th at 16.00h CET, but the website is down most of the time. Tiks.app blames hackers for this. The authorities in Kosovo started an official investigation. The website said on the 13th that it will go live as soon as possible, and apologized for the problems. Follow twitter.com/stefaninkosovo for the latest updates concerning news about tiks.app.
Are there tickets available via the black market or during the match day? Well probably, but this is difficult to predict.
Concerning the website tiks.app. It is in Albanian, but you can select ‘english’ via the menu. Still not everything is translated into English, which might makes you think that the translation button does not work.
Tiks.app is the official channel to buy a ticket for Kosovo-England. First of all: make sure you already have a login before the tickets go on sale. Concerning a credit card: at least we used a foreign credit card, and this one worked. Concerning an address: we cannot remember, but in general: often a website checks if the address and the address connected with the credit card are the same.
Yes. Kosovo is probably the safest country within Europa. In general, you don’t have to be aware of pickpockets. People are very friendly and mind their own business. Women can feel safe as well, also after midnight.
Kosovo has no history of violence during football matches, and especially befriended countries can expect a warm welcome.
A ride between Skopje (or Skopje Airport) and Pristina should be between an hour and a half and two hours. This could have been quicker, if our friends from the other side of the border would have built a better highway as well. You can rent a car at the airport, go by bus or by taxi. This Albanian written website gives your an impression (don’t take it as a fact!) of the bus schedule between Pristina and Skopje. Please note that there are no direct buses going to the airport of Skopje and Pristina. Use this website (in Albanian) and write the cities as Prishtinë, Shkup and Aeroporti Nderkombetar (Shkup). Tickets should be around 5 euro’s one way.
For taxi services we can only recommend the Kosovan ones (since we know those). Call or whatsapp companies like Blue Taxi or Golden Taxi. The international code for Kosovo is +383.
O yes. Rita Ora was born in Pristina, and left with her parents to the UK. Dua Lipa was born in the UK, but went back to Kosovo as a teenagers. Luckily for you guys, she later returned to London to become a singer the queen of pop.
The unofficial statistic is that Kosovo produces more pop stars per capita than any other place in the world. And it’s true.
Not far! The stadium for Kosovo-England, Fadil Vokrri, is within the centre (how romantic!). So from the main Mother Teresa Boulevard, you can reach it within a few minutes. But also when you are in a bar a bit further from the stadium, the walk is maybe ten minutes.
The airport is not far from the city centre of Pristina. When you are lucky, you can do this within 25 minutes. You can go for less than €15,- by taxi. You can call (or whatsapp!) Blue Taxi or Golden Taxi for example. A single ride to the city is normally a standard price. Ask for this before you depart (in 2019: 13 euro’s). Do you prefer to go by bus? That’s possible too. Just in front of the entrance, you should find a yellow bus with the departure times. Read more about the airport at our special airport page.
In Kosovo, we pay with euro. And we are not even in the Eurozone (beat that!). Since you cannot pay everywhere in Kosovo with a card, we recommend to bring cash. If possible, change your money already into euro in the UK. Of course, you can also use an ATM in Kosovo. They are easy to find when you are in the city. At the airport, you can find them as well.
Are you kidding me? Of course. Kosovo is more and more explored by travelers. We have some amazing places to visit. Pristina itself is not the most touristic place (in terms of sight seeing, but in other things it is an amazing place), but others are. Besides that, we have some amazing nature to explore. To make it easy for you, we advise you to visit our tourism section.
Pristina is known for its nightlife. The city is full with bars and restaurants. Kosovars (92% is Albanian) are the most friendly and hospitable people you have ever seen in Europa. Most of them consider themselves Muslim, a small part Catholic (a minority Protestant, Orthodox or Jewish). The main pedestrian boulevard is named after the most famous Catholic nun Mother Teresa. In general, Kosovars are known for practicing a moderate form of religion. Drinking alcohol is for most people seen as a regular thing. Of course, some people don’t and this is respected by every one.
Probably the most important question for an Englishman. We know that, and we respect that. In general, a regular beer costs between one or two euro’s. Our own beers are called ‘Peja beer’ (Birra Peja) or ‘Pristina beer’ (Birra Prishtina).
Most people in Kosovo speak Albanian. This is an independent language, influenced by Latin and Greek, but also by Ottoman Turkish. In other words: we do not expect you to do an Albanian course before leaving to Kosovo. To help you out, we have the most important words and sentences written down. Since you will most probably pronounce words in a different way, we have consulted the Kosovar Albanian @Arita from England to write the following sentences phonetic:
- Good morning – Meer-meh-en-jhes
- Good afternoon – Meer-dee-ta
- Good evening – Meer-mmbra-ma
- Have a good day – Deet-ern eh meer
- Have a good night – Nar-ten eh meer
- Can I have eight beers, mate? – Ah bon tet bee-ra teh loo-tem, dors-t?
- Where can I find an ATM? – Coo cah barn-ko-mat?
- Can I please pay? – Ah bon paa-ghe-sen?
This map represents the centre of Pristina. This whole area is like 700 meters by 700 meters. Which means that you can walk everything easily. Please check the original (digital) source of Open Street Map here.
The red dots represents the main pedestrian boulevard, named after Mother Teresa. This Catholic nun received her calling in a Kosovan village. Both of her parents were from (nowadays) Kosovo (and moved to Skopje, which is nowadays in North Macedonia).
The Mother Teresa Boulevard connects universities, government buildings, media outlets, hotels, international organizations, and a number of streets with bars and restaurants. The boulevard itself has several bars and restaurants as well, but not that many.
As you can see, the stadium is close by!
We tried to highlight (with things that should look like beer glasses) the most important places with a number of bars and restaurants. Of course, those are not all, and sometimes we even did not mark the most popular places. But this gives a good impression.
Tips for bars and restaurants
Kosovo has a ‘coffee culture’, which means that you will find a lot of bars, restaurants, and fast food places. A lot of them will show the match on screen or big screen. The best is to check out yourself hours before the match, and just ask the owner.
If you need tips about which places to go for food or drinks, visit for example this very KosovoGirlTravels article. Especially handy when staying more than one day, and not only want to eat fast food. Another good website (and great mobile app) is Spotted By Locals. They give you separated lists of the best bars, restaurants, coffee places, and fast food.
In case you mean: where can I buy paracetamol in Pristina? Well, just look around you, and you probably see one of the hundreds of pharmacies. In case you mean other drugs: we’ll recommend you to go to Amsterdam.
Do you miss a question. Just send it to twitter.com/StefanInKosovo or email it to info@kosovo-info.com.
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