As they wrapped up the final days of training and preparation at their camp in Slovenia, the players and coaches of Trepca ’89 still had no idea how they would get to the biggest match of their lives.

It was not the visa problems that frequently bedevil the foreign travel plans of many residents of Kosovo that were causing problems. Nor had politics intervened, as was the case when Ukraine refused to let the Kosovo national team play a World Cup qualifier in Kiev last year.

This time the crisis was much more mundane. Trepca ’89, the first-time champions of Kosovo, needed to reach the Faroe Islands to play Vikingur in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. But it is the middle of summer in the Balkans, when most people’s thoughts turn to their vacations, and Trepca ’89 simply could not find a spare airplane.

“It was very difficult for me and the players, as we thought we’d go straight from our training camp in Slovenia,” Coach Zekirija Ramadani said.