Albania national football team
men's national football team representing Albania
Albania national football team is the national football team of Albania. Although it never played any matches, the Albanian national football team existed before FSHF was created. This is witnessed by the registration of the team in the Balkan Cup tournament of 1929-1931, which started in 1929 (although Albania eventually retired from the competition, before the competition started).[4] FSHF was founded on June 6, 1930, and Albania had to wait 16 years to play its first international match, debuting against Yugoslavia in 1946. In 1932, Albania joined FIFA (during the congress June 12 — June 16) and in 1954, it was one of the founding members of UEFA.
| Nickname(s) | Kuq e Zinjtë (The Red and Blacks) Shqiponjat (The Eagles) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Federata Shqiptare e Futbollit (FSHF) | |||
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | |||
| Head coach | Christian Panucci | |||
| Captain | Mërgim Mavraj | |||
| Most caps | Lorik Cana (93) | |||
| Top scorer | Erjon Bogdani (18) | |||
| Home stadium | Various | |||
| FIFA code | ALB | |||
| ||||
| FIFA ranking | ||||
| Current | 66  (22 December 2022)[1] | |||
| Highest | 22 (August 2015[2]) | |||
| Lowest | 124 (August 1997[3]) | |||
| First international | ||||
Unofficial Albania 5–0 Montenegro  (Shkodër, Albania; 22 August 1946)[4] Official Albania 2–3 Yugoslavia  (Tirana, Albania; 7 October 1946)[5] | ||||
| Biggest win | ||||
 Albania 6–1 Cyprus  (Tirana, Albania; 12 August 2009)[5] | ||||
| Biggest defeat | ||||
 Hungary 12–0 Albania (Budapest, Hungary; 24 September 1950)[5] | ||||
| European Championship | ||||
| Appearances | 1 (first in 2016) | |||
| Best result | Group stage (2016) | |||
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Most appearances
change| Pos | Player | Apps | Goals | Career |
| 1 | Foto Strakosha | 73 | 0 | 1990-2005 |
| 2 | Altin Lala | 70 | 3 | 1998-present |
| 3 | Igli Tare | 68 | 10 | 1997-2007 |
| 4 | Alban Bushi | 67 | 14 | 1995-2007 |
| 5 | Altin Haxhi | 65 | 3 | 1995-2007 |
| 6 | Altin Rraklli | 63 | 11 | 1992-2005 |
| 7 | Rudi Vata | 59 | 5 | 1990-2001 |
| 8 | Ervin Skela | 53 | 9 | 2000-present |
| 9 | Klodian Duro | 50 | 3 | 2000-present |
| 10 | Arjan Xhumba | 48 | 0 | 1992-2002 |
Top scorers
change| Pos | Player | Goals | Apps | Career |
| 6 | Erjon Bogdani | 19 | 79 | 1996-present |
| 1 | Alban Bushi | 14 | 67 | 1995-2007 |
| 2 | Altin Rraklli | 11 | 63 | 1992-2005 |
| 3 | Igli Tare | 10 | 68 | 1997-2007 |
| 4 | Sokol Kushta | 10 | 1987-1996 | |
| 5 | Ervin Skela | 9 | 53 | 2000-2011 |
| 6 | Adrian Aliaj | 8 | 2002-2006 | |
| 8 | Loro Borici | 6 | 1946-1958 | |
| 9 | Bledar Kola | 6 | 1994-2001 | |
| 9 | Edmond Kapllani | 6 | 2004-present |
References
change- ↑ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 22 December 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
- ↑ FIFA World Ranking 8.2015 Archived 2018-05-24 at the Wayback Machine, 2/11/2018.
- ↑ FIFA World Ranking 8.1997 Archived 2018-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, 2/11/2018.
- ↑ "Albania (5–0) Montenegro". eu-football.info. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Kirill (16 August 2010). "Albania matches". Kirill. Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 3 March 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
