Sports Poets Society

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/famous-last-words-stephen-roche-23314 Cycling Weekly  November 14, 2013 5:23 pm The 1987 Tour de France winner is proud of his training camp business, 
of charity sportive Tour de Cure, but most of all, of his son Nicolas In the early part of my career, people would say, “ Roche is OK, but he can’t suffer .” The truth is, my pedalling style never really gave much away. It wasn’t intentional, I was just naturally very supple and didn’t throw shapes, even when I was digging really deep. If I could relive any race it would be Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1987. I had it won and I lost it in the last 100 yards . I should have trusted my instincts but because I’d been second in Paris-Nice, second in the Mediterranean from going too early, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. I was focused on [Claude] Criquielion, and then [Moreno] Argentin mugged us both. I rode with some of cycling’s greats but I never had a fierce rivalry...

Adnan Januzaj is another example of the displaced Kosovan nationals who are across Europe since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.  Kosovo is an independent state bordering Albania and within the former Yugoslavia but is not recognised by Serbia. The national team has been formally recognised by FIFA and allowed to play friendlies. But UEFA, bowing to pressure from Russia and Serbia, has so far refused recognition.  Kosovo’s international isolation has forced many of its best footballers to seek international recognition elsewhere, notably Albania and Switzerland, where many Kosovan refugees were granted sanctuary during the civil war.  Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka and Valon Behrami, were all born in Kosovo but are now representing Switzerland, while Lorik Cana, who was born in Albania of Kosovan heritage, now captains Albania.  The Kosovan FA would like to see FIFA allow a one-off  nationality switch if they are accepted into FIFA....