The head of Kosovo’s football governing body, Agim Ademi, was arrested on Wednesday evening and released on Thursday, after being accused of assaulting a Kosovo Football Federation official.

Police confirmed that they received a report about the alleged assault at the Kosovo Football Federation, KFF, offices on Wednesday.

“Several persons have been interviewed, one of them in the capacity of a suspect. In coordination with the prosecution, we have opened a case and the suspect has been taken into custody,” police said on Thursday.

On Thursday, the Pristina Basic Court confirmed that Ademi was interviewed and then released, while the case will now proceed through “regular procedure”.

Artan Govori, the KFF official who reported the assault, said Ademi caught him by the throat. “I suffered a neck injury and some scratches. The injury is not serious but it is enough … He was claiming that we’ve been leaking information from the Federation,” Govori told the media.

Govori said that he felt pressured by “Ademi’s people” and was being “photographed and filmed in meetings outside the offices”.

On Wednesday, the KFF denied the attack occurred. “No physical assault happened inside KFF premises. It was simply a usual debate about the nature of the work in the Federation,” the KFF said.

“KFF staff and other witnesses were present at the time when the alleged physical assault happened, which in fact was only a debate,” it added.

The alleged incident came on the day when Gramoz Vokrri, son of Kosovo’s football legend Fadil Vokrri, submitted his candidacy to be head of the Federation in elections scheduled for April 6. The deadline for submitting candidacies ends on Thursday. Vokrri is seen as a serious challenger to Ademi’s bid for a second mandate.

“The KFF, as a credible institution, will continue its journey despite such pressures, aiming to take Kosovo football forward and keep people from interest groups away from this institution,” it said.

Elections for the heads of Football Federations have been a cause of unrest for months in both Albania and Kosovo.

In January, the home of Armando Duka, head of the Albanian Football Federation, was damaged by an explosion as the elections within that organization were announced and Duka was pondering his candidacy for a sixth term, which he won this month.

In Bulgaria, meanwhile, former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov failed in his attempt to become President of the Bulgarian Football Association in October last year, as the current president Borislav Mihaylov won another mandate.