Albania women's national football team

Albania

Nickname(s)	Kuq e Zinjtë (Red and Blacks)
Association	Federata Shqiptare e Futbollit (FSHF)
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Altin Rraklli
Captain	Aurora Seranaj
Most caps	Pellumbesha Gjyli (6)
Top scorer	Suada Jashari (4)
Home stadium	Loni Papuçiu Stadium
FIFA code	ALB
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	78 (25 September 2015)
Highest	59 (December 2013)
Lowest	136 (December 2011)
First international
Albania 1–0 Macedonia  (Pogradec, Albania; May 5, 2011)[1]
Biggest win
Macedonia 1–4 Albania  (Struga, Macedonia; November 10, 2011)[1]
Biggest defeat
Albania 0–11 Norway  (Durrës, Albania; September 13, 2014)

The Albania women's national football team represents Albania in international women's football and is governed by Albanian Football Association (FSHF)

History

Early history

The Albanian women's national football team was formed in 2011 and made their debut in a friendly against Macedonia FYR on May 5, 2011 at the Gjorgji Kyçyku Stadium. The match ended 1–0 with Albania's first win and midfielder Aurora Seranaj scoring the first goal for Albania.^[2] Towards the end of 2011, the national team strengthened its squad with the arrival of football players from the Albanian diaspora communities, notably Furtuna Velaj, Dafina Memedov, Ellvana Curo, Elizabeta Ejupi, Arjeta Krasniqi and Arbnora Robelli. The national team ended the year with their second win against Macedonia FYR away in Struga. ^[3] The second victory against Macedonia FYR is currently the national team's biggest win.

On the 15 May 2012, Albania faced Montenegro in Bar and won 2–4. ^[4] Three days later, the Albanian won again with a rematch against Montenegro, winning 4–3 at the Loro Boriçi Stadium in Shkodër. ^[5] On the 22nd of May, Albania encountered Macedonia FYR again, this time with a 2–0 win with 2 goals from Suada Jashari. ^[6] The national team had so far been undefeated in 5 games, 15 goals scored, and 6 goals conceded. On the 29th of August, The Albanian national team participated in an unofficial football tournament held in Drama. The national team drew 1–1 with Amazons Drama^[7] and lost 0–3 to Greece.^[8]

FIFA Women's World Cup 2015

On the 18 December 2012, it was announced that Albania would be in a group with Malta, Luxembourg and Latvia in the preliminary round of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification.^[9] This was the first time Albania entered a senior competitive tournament. Albania secured a top-two finish on the final day of 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup preliminary round mini-tournament to earn a slot in the qualifying group stage. Albania are still unbeaten after seven senior internationals, all but one of those wins.^[10]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Malta (H)	3	2	1	0	9	1	+8	7	Group stage		—	—	—	6–0
2	Albania	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7			1–1	—	2–0	—
3	Latvia	3	0	1	2	0	4	−4	1			0–2	—	—	—
4	Luxembourg	3	0	1	2	1	8	−7	1			—	1–2	0–0	—

On 21 September 2013, Albania officially succumbed to their first lost against Belgium in the World Cup Qualifying group stage. Albania only won a single game in this group, against Greece on 30 October 2013, with a 1–0. The Red and Blacks lost all of the remaining matches by a margin of more than three goals each. They finished last with 3 points, 3 goals from them, and a total of 54 from their rivals.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Norway	10	9	0	1	41	5	+36	27	Women's World Cup		—	0–2	4–1	2–0	6–0	7–0
2	Netherlands	10	8	1	1	43	6	+37	25	Play-offs		1–2	—	1–1	3–2	7–0	10–1
3	Belgium	10	6	1	3	34	11	+23	19			1–2	0–2	—	4–1	11–0	2–0
4	Portugal	10	4	0	6	19	21	−2	12			0–2	0–7	0–1	—	1–0	7–1
5	Greece	10	1	0	9	6	49	−43	3[lower-alpha 1]			0–5	0–6	1–7	1–5	—	4–0
6	Albania	10	1	0	9	3	54	−51	3[lower-alpha 1]			0–11	0–4	0–6	0–3	1–0	—

Results

Date	Opposition	Result	Score	Competition
September 21, 2013	Belgium	L	0–2	2015 WWC Q. G5
September 26, 2013	Netherlands	L	0–4	2015 WWC Q. G5
October 26, 2013	Norway	L	0–7	2015 WWC Q. G5
October 30, 2013	Greece	W	1–0	2015 WWC Q. G5
February 12, 2014	Portugal	L	1–7	2015 WWC Q. G5
April 5, 2014	Belgium	L	0–6	2015 WWC Q. G5
April 10, 2014	Netherlands	L	1–10	2015 WWC Q. G5
June 14, 2014	Portugal	L	0–3	2015 WWC Q. G5
September 13, 2014	Norway	L	0–11	2015 WWC Q. G5
September 17, 2014	Greece	L	0–4	2015 WWC Q. G5
March 24, 2015	Luxembourg	W	2–0	Friendly
June 25, 2015	Montenegro	L	0–1	Friendly
August 19, 2015	Turkey	W	1–0	Friendly
August 21, 2015	Turkey	L	0–1	Friendly
August 31, 2015	Croatia	L	1–7	Friendly
September 2, 2015	Croatia	L	1–3	Friendly
October 22, 2015	Greece	L	1–4	2017 Euro Q. G3
October 27, 2015	Romania	L	0–3	2017 Euro Q. G3
November 27, 2015	France	L	0–6	2017 Euro Q. G3

Women's Euro 2017 qualifying

The draw for the groups of the qualifying for the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 took place on 19 February 2015. Albania was drawn in Group 3 along with France, Ukraine, Romania and Greece. Their debut was on 22 October 2015 with Greece on the Loni Papuçiu Stadium, their new home field. Greece defeated the Red and Blacks with a scoreline of 4–1, the first goal being an own goal of Marigona Zani at the 14 minutes. Kujtime Kurbogaj scored the only goal for Albania in the game. As a visitor in Stadionul Mogoșoaia, Mogoșoaia on 27 October 2015, Albania lost to Romania with a 3–0. Albania lost 6–0 against the group favorites, France in the return of the team to the Qemal Stafa Stadium, in home soil.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	4	4	0	0	15	0	+15	12	Final tournament		—	3–0	3 Jun	12 Apr	20 Sep
2	Romania	4	2	1	1	8	6	+2	7	Final tournament or Play-offs		8 Apr	—	20 Sep	15 Sep	3–0
3	Greece	4	2	0	2	8	9	−1	6			0–3	1–3	—	8 Mar	3–2
4	Ukraine	2	0	1	1	2	5	−3	1			0–3	2–2	7 Jun	—	8 Apr
5	Albania	4	0	0	4	3	16	−13	0			0–6	2 Jun	1–4	4 Mar	—

Albania  v  Greece

22 October 2015 (2015-10-22) 14:00

Albania	1–4	Greece
Kurbogaj  23'	Report	Zani  14' (o.g.) Kydonaki  27' Sidira  37' Markou  90+2'

Loni Papuçiu Stadium, Fier Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Zuzana Štrpková (Slovakia)

Romania  v  Albania

27 October 2015 (2015-10-27) 15:00

Romania	3–0	Albania
Lunca  9' Corduneanu  24' Giurgiu  74'	Report

Stadionul Mogoșoaia, Mogoșoaia Attendance: 100 Referee: Ana Minić (Serbia)

Albania  v  France

27 November 2015 (2015-11-27) 21:00

Albania	0–6	France
	Report	Houara  12', 15' Le Sommer  25', 81' Le Bihan  63', 73'

Qemal Stafa Stadium, Tirana Referee: Vera Opeykina (Russia)

Greece  v  Albania

26 January 2016 (2016-01-26)

Greece	v	Albania
	Report

Albania  v  Ukraine

4 March 2016 (2016-03-04)

Albania	v	Ukraine
	Report

Ukraine  v  Albania

8 April 2016 (2016-04-08)

Ukraine	v	Albania
	Report

Albania  v  Romania

2 June 2016 (2016-06-02)

Albania	v	Romania
	Report

France  v  Albania

20 September 2016 (2016-09-20)

France	v	Albania
	Report

Competitive record

World Cup

World Cup Finals									World Cup Qualification record
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
1991	Did Not Enter
1995
1999
2003
2007
2011
2015	Did Not Qualify								6/6	13	3	1	9	8	56	−48
2019	To Be Determined
Total	0/8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Total	13	3	1	9	8	56	−48

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

European Championship

European Championship Finals									European Championship Qualification record
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
1984	Did Not Enter
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
2001
2005
2009
2013
2017	Qualification In Process								5/5	2	0	0	2	1	7	−6
Total	0/11	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Total	2	0	0	2	1	7	−6

Current squad

The following players were called up for the Friendly match against Montenegro on 25 June 2015.^[11]

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club 1GK Marigona Zani (1997-05-07) May 7, 1997 1 0 Rot-Weiß Göttingen 1GK Viona Rexhepi (1996-07-24) July 24, 1996 0 0 Vllaznia Shkodër 2DF Arbiona Bajraktari (1996-09-10) September 10, 1996 1 0 FK Kukësi 2DF Fitore Govori (1987-08-03) August 3, 1987 1 1 Vllaznia Shkodër 2DF Lucije Gjini (1994-05-02) May 2, 1994 1 0 Vllaznia Shkodër 2DF Sara Maliqi (1995-10-09) October 9, 1995 1 0 FK Kukësi 2DF Irisa Beqiraga (1993-12-29) December 29, 1993 0 0 Tirana AS 2DF Cyme Lulaj (1989-10-20) October 20, 1989 1 0 FC Kinostudio 3MF Aurora Seranaj (Captain) (1982-05-14) May 14, 1982 3 1 Lazio 3MF Megi Doci (1996-10-14) October 14, 1996 1 0 Vllaznia Shkodër 3MF Marcela Ndoci (1998-02-12) February 12, 1998 1 0 Juban Danja 3MF Saranda Hashani (1996-05-20) May 20, 1996 1 0 Zürich Frauen 3MF Kujtime Kurbogaj (1996-11-26) November 26, 1996 1 0 FC Rosengård 3MF Festime Hasrollaj ? 1 0 ? 3MF Lavdie Begolli (1993-01-19) January 19, 1993 1 0 Vllaznia Shkodër 3MF Ferite Kastrati ? 1 0 ? 3MF Ezmiralda Franja (1997-02-04) February 4, 1997 1 0 Vllaznia Shkodër 4FW Aurora Thaçi ? 1 0 Øvrevoll Hosle Idrettslag 4FW Suada Jashari (1988-10-19) October 19, 1988 2 2 Vllaznia Shkodër 4FW Klaudia Rrotani (1995-05-16) May 16, 1995 0 0 Juban Danja 4FW Marsela Djegsina (1995-05-13) May 13, 1995 1 0 The Door Albania

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up within the last 12 months.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club 1GK Pëllumbesha Gjyli (1986-08-31) August 31, 1986 ? 1GK Veronika Jashari (1997-05-16) May 16, 1997 Forsby FF 1GK Desantila Hoxhaj (1988-07-01) July 1, 1988 Vllaznia Shkodër 1GK Elandra Basha (1988-03-24) March 24, 1988 TSV Schwaben Augsburg 2DF Albina Rrahmani (1989-02-24) February 24, 1989 Mladá Boleslav 3MF Fatbardha Aliu (1996-06-05) June 5, 1996 Falkenbergs FF 2DF Erida Bajrakurtaj (1994-03-16) March 16, 1994 Vllaznia Shkodër 2DF Nora Selmani (1988-09-14) September 14, 1988 KFF Kosova 2DF Xhuljeta Preci (1994-12-16) December 16, 1994 Juban Danja 2DF Donilda Sufaj (1993-03-14) March 14, 1993 Vllaznia Shkodër 2DF Greta Lazri (1995-08-07) August 7, 1995 Vllaznia Shkodër 2DF Denisa Proto (1991-04-25) April 25, 1991 Vllaznia Shkodër 2DF Lumturie Muhadri (1982-11-30) November 30, 1982 FC Prishtina 3MF Floralba Krasniqi (1994-08-26) August 26, 1994 Union Kleinmünchen 3MF Dafina Memedov (1990-02-21) February 21, 1990 IF Limhamn Bunkeflo 3MF Geldona Morina (1994-08-03) August 3, 1994 MSV Duisburg 3MF Atdhetare Halitjaja (1994-11-02) November 2, 1994 Reggiana 3MF Nurtene Topalli (1993-05-26) May 26, 1993 SPG LUV Graz/DFC Leoben 3MF Furtuna Velaj (1990-08-03) August 3, 1990 SC Sand 3MF Xhemile Berisha (1981-07-22) July 22, 1981 Vllaznia Shkodër 3MF Rovena Ndoci (1998-01-05) January 5, 1998 Vllaznia Shkodër 3MF Endrina Elezaj (1997-01-12) January 12, 1997 1. FFC 08 Niederkirchen 3MF Elizabeta Ejupi (1994-04-21) April 21, 1994 Nottingham Forest 3MF Dielona Luta (1994-11-09) November 9, 1994 0 0 FC Köln 3MF Arjeta Krasniqi (1989-06-29) 29 June 1989 SpVgg Rheurdt-Schaephuysen 3MF Naime Merovci (1993-03-28) March 28, 1993 IFK Strömstad 4FW Arbnora Robelli (1992-09-03) September 3, 1992 IS Halmia 4FW Ana Baro (1992-11-01) November 1, 1992 Vllaznia Shkodër 4FW Ellvana Curo (1992-01-22) January 22, 1992 Bundoora United FC 4FW Emanuela Jaku (1993-05-11) May 11, 1993 Juban Danja 4FW Blerta Kaçiu (1992-02-24) February 24, 1992 FC Prishtina

Stadium

In November 2013, Qemal Stafa Stadium was shut down by FIFA for not fulfilling international standards.^[12] In fact, not a single stadium in Albania fulfills FIFA standards for international competitions. During the period of friendly games and the Euro qualifier with Greece in 2015, the women's team used the Loni Papuçiu Stadium in Fier to held their matches. The Qemal Stafa Stadium held the match between France and Albania on November 27, 2015.

Kit suppliers

Kit provider	Period
Legea	2011
Adidas	2011–present

Managers

This is a list of the managers of Albania since 2011:

1. Altin Rraklli (5 May 2011–present)

Record against other countries

Opponent	Games	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals For	Goals Against	Goal Differential
Amazons Drama	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Belgium	2	0	0	2	0	8	−8
Croatia	2	0	0	2	2	10	−8
France	1	0	0	1	0	6	−6
Greece	4	1	0	3	2	11	−9
Latvia	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Luxembourg	2	2	0	0	4	1	+3
Macedonia	4	3	0	1	10	5	+5
Malta	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Montenegro	3	2	0	1	8	6	+2
Netherlands	2	0	0	2	1	14	−13
Norway	2	0	0	2	0	18	−18
Portugal	2	0	0	2	1	10	−9
Romania	1	0	0	1	1	4	−3
Turkey	2	1	0	1	1	1	0
14 Countries and 1 Club	30	10	2	18	34	96	−62

See Also

• Albania national football team
• Albania women's national under-19 football team

References

External links

• Official website
• FIFA profile

International women's association football FIFA Federations Teams Competitions World Cup U-17 U-20 Algarve Cup Cyprus Cup Olympics Youth Olympics Universiade World Rankings Player of the Year Ballon d'Or Asia AFC Women's Asian Cup U-19 U-16 Regional (ASEAN, EAFF, SAFF, WAFF) Africa CAF Women Cup of Nations U-20 U-17 North America, Central America and Caribbean CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup U-20 U-17 South America CONMEBOL Copa América Femenina U-20 U-17 Oceania OFC Women's Nations Cup U-20 U-17 Europe UEFA Women's Championship U-19 U-17 Non-FIFA NF-Board Women's Viva World Cup Games All-Africa Games Asian Games Central America and Caribbean Central American Games Pan American Games Pacific Games South Asian Games Southeast Asian Games See also Geography Codes Player of the Century Achievements by nation Men's football

National sports teams of Albania Basketball M W Football M W M U-21 M U-20 M U-19 M U-18 M U-17 M U-16 Futsal M W Tennis M W Olympics Paralympics Mediterranean Games