Qëndresa Krelani found herself at the centre of heated public debate back in 2021.

A sports journalist with two decades of experience, Krelani was part of a panel on Sporti Total, a KTV sports show alongside Llapi Football Club's coach Tahir Batatina, Drenica Football Club's former coach Bekim Shotani and commentator Erdin Hashani. The panel was discussing match-ups in Kosovo's First Football League when Krelani criticized Batatina, saying that supporters had lost faith in him as a coach.

Batatina responded, "Ninety-nine per cent if I was your manager, I would only allow you to fold newspapers because you have no knowledge about football," before adding, "You are not on the level of a journalist, this is evident from your appearance."

Batatina's sexist language drew a sharp response. The Association of Journalists of Kosovo reacted by asking the Football Federation of Kosovo to take measures against Batatina, who was also condemned by the Association of Sports Journalists. The Disciplinary Committee of the Football Federation of Kosovo also started proceedings against the coach.

But on social media there was a wave of similar comments to Batatina's, showing that there is still widespread resistance to women working in the traditionally male-dominated field of sports journalism, among other challenges women in journalism face.

This resistance is being challenged by a number of women. One example is Elvira Dushku, former basketball player, sports journalist and now General Secretary of the Basketball Federation of Kosovo. And a sign of change in the next generation: women make up the majority of the students in the University of Pristina's sports journalism course.

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