BUDAPEST: UEFA admitted Kosovo as its 55th member in a narrow vote on Tuesday, boosting its hopes of competing in the 2018 World Cup despite warnings from former ruler Serbia.

The UEFA congress voted 28 to 24 with two votes declared invalid to accept Kosovo, which will also have a team at the Olympics for the first time at the Rio de Janeiro Games in August.

FIFA will now decide at its congress in Mexico City on May 13 whether to become the last major sporting federation to admit Kosovo.

The Kosovo Football Federation hopes that if FIFA gives its green light, it will get a late place in a European qualifying group for the World Cup in Russia in two years.

“We are very happy today of course,” federation president Fadil Vokrri told AFP. “Now we have to wait and see what FIFA decides in 10 days in Mexico, but we hope for the best, that we can compete in the World Cup.”

There were also new celebrations in Kosovo where the congress was broadcast live on four major TV channels and by radio stations.

President Hashim Thaci told AFP: “After three decades of isolation for Kosovo football, Kosovo’s membership in UEFA marks a new page, a historic day.

“I strongly believe that the next step will be Kosovo’s membership in FIFA,” he added.

Passionate speeches were made for and against Kosovo’s membership at the congress. Serbia’s Football Association president Tomislav Karadzic said it would open up a “Pandora’s Box” with other breakaway regions applying for membership.

But Vokrri said UEFA had to vote for footballers.

“What message are we sending the youth of Kosovo,” the federation president told the congress before the vote.

“Sixty per cent of the population of Kosovo are aged under 27. Can we really keep them away from this privilege.”

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2016