Serbia have appealed Kosovo's UEFA membership to CAS ©Getty Images

The Football Association of Serbia (FSS) has officially launched an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over Kosovo’s acceptance into UEFA, according to reports there.

The Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK) were granted membership of European football’s governing body at its Congress in Budapest on May 3.

A total of 28 nations voted in favour of their application being accepted, with 24 against, including Serbia.

It marked a rare move as UEFA does not normally admit countries which are not part of the United Nations.

The decision paved the way for Kosovo to become a member of FIFA and they were formally recognised by football's world governing body at its Congress in Mexico City on May 13. 

The membership of Kosovo, which gained independence from Serbia in 2008, in UEFA and FIFA has long been opposed by their Serbian counterparts and news web portal Politika has reported they have officially taken their grievances to the CAS.

FSS President Tomislav Karadzic had described the decision to accept Kosovo into UEFA as “a political not a footballing proposal” and claimed the development would “create tumult” and “open a Pandora’s box throughout Europe”.

Football’s governing bodies now face the tough task of integrating Kosovo into international competitions, including qualifying for the FIFA World Cup in 2018. 

Kosovo becoming a member of FIFA was greeted with jubilant scenes in Pristina
Kosovo becoming a member of FIFA was greeted with jubilant scenes in Pristina ©Getty Images

A number of nations refuse to recognise Kosovo as an independent state and Russia has asked to be kept apart from them during the qualification for the tournament in Russia in 2018.

“Russia will definitely submit such a request,” Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, a member of FIFA’s ruling Council, told Russia's official news agency TASS.

UEFA has often been able to separate nations for political reasons, such as Russia and Georgia and Spain and Gibraltar, in its competitions in order to avoid potential conflict.

The Balkan country will be added to one of Europe's two five-team groups, either pitting them against Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Estonia and Cyprus in Group H, or Croatia, Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey and Finland in Group I.

“We always have to take precautions to avoid clashes,” Theodore Theodoridis, acting general secretary at UEFA, said earlier this week.

“The obvious one is Serbia, but we have other cases where there could be problems.”

Gibraltar was also accepted at the FIFA Congress, raising the membership of the organisation to 211.