From international football ban to qualifying for Euro 2016 - Albania's amazing journey
One of the founding members of UEFA, Albania has long been a footballing minnow, most famous for the 12-0 drubbing inflicted on them by the Magical Magyars of Hungary in 1950. So the joyous celebrations that erupted in the capital city of Tirana immediately after Polish referee Szymon Marciniak blew the final whistle on a Sunday night at the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium some 6,000 km away in Yerevan can be quite justified.
Kuq e Zintje or the Red and Blacks as the Albanian national team is fondly addressed had just done the impossible. They had qualified for their first major international tournament.
Albania had gone into the match against Armenia one point behind second-placed Denmark in Group I of the 2016 Euro qualifiers. A place in the playoff had already been assured, but the team led by Lorik Cana did not want to leave anything to chance – an automatic qualification berth was the need of the hour and only a victory would guarantee that.
The already eliminated Armenians had nothing to play for but dominated possession nonetheless. However, any signs of worry ebbed away inside the first ten minutes when Armenian defender Kamo Hovhannisyan inadvertently put the ball into his own net after goalkeeper Gevorg Kasparov had saved a Migjen Basha shot.
Berat Xhimshiti would double the lead in the 23rd minute and any lingering hopes of an unlikely Armenian comeback was stifled when substitute Armando Sadiku scored the third goal in the 76th minute. A spot at Euro 2016 had been achieved.
Yet, it could all have gone very differently.
The rise of Albania post the Kosovan war
A FIFA ranking of 124 in August 1997 had been the lowest point in Albanian football history. The country would be thrown into bigger problems during the Kosovan war as it would trigger a large migration of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo to Triana.
The Albanian football federation – Federata Shiqiptare e Futbollit or the FSHF – would even be suspended from international football in 2008 due to political interference in the football association. The ban would be lifted after 46 days, but it was a symbol of the irregularities in the football structure of the country.
However, the conditions changed dramatically after the appointment of Giovanni De Biasi as the national team coach in 2011. The wily Italian sought to pool together the talents of players with Albanian ethnicities spread throughout various European countries. Migjen Basha was persuaded away from Switzerland and promising players such as Mergim Mavraj and Edgar Ceni, who had grown disillusioned with the FSHF, were brought back into the fold.
But there were many who got away. Xherdan Shaqiri decided to represent Switzerland and Adnan Januzaj chose Belgium. In 2014 alone, ethnic Albanians would wear the colours of seven different national teams with the Xhaka brothers the most telling example of the situation – the elder Taulant Xhaka would choose Albania whereas the younger Granit would don the colours of Switzerland.
The 2014 World Cup would come too early for De Biasi’s project to take effect and Albania unsurprisingly failed to qualify. However, a historic victory over Norway in Oslo would give an indication of the impending change. The upset of former world champions France in June would send the Albanians soaring up the FIFA rankings, eventually securing a best ever standing of 15 in August.
Albania’s road to Euro 2016
The Euro 2016 qualification draw could not have been worse for Albania at the time. Drawn alongside Portugal, Denmark and Serbia, the Eagles seemed to have no chance at all. But that perception changed in the first match itself when group favourites Portugal were stunned 1-0 away in a sensational upset.
The Elbasan Arena welcomed the Danes next and the former European champions needed a late goal to cancel out Emir Lenjani’s strike.
The next game against Serbia at the Partizan stadium saw the dirty laundry of the Balkan wars displayed in full view of the world. A drone carrying a pro-Albanian flag somehow found its way into the stadium and the Serbian fans proceeded to invade the pitch and attack the Albanian players.
By some perverse logic, FIFA initially awarded the match 3-0 to Serbia, who also received a three-point deduction.
The Albanians successfully appealed the decision and the match was deemed to have been forfeited by Serbia and a 3-0 victory was awarded to Albania, with the further three point deduction for Serbia still intact. This effectively ended Serbia’s chances of progression and ensured that Albania would be in pole position to get at least the playoff spot.
By the time the next round of matches came about, a grateful nation had already granted De Biasi Albanian citizenship.
However, two home defeats – first to Portugal and the second to a vengeful Serbia – with all the goals conceded in second half injury time threatened to derail Albania’s chances. But a Portuguese victory over Denmark assured their fate would remain firmly in their own hands with the trip to Armenia yet to come.
De Biasi’s team would not disappoint. He might have seen the bright lights of the La Liga while coaching Levante, but would know deep down in his heart that nothing can match the gratitude of this long-suffering nation.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portugal | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 21 |
| 2 | Albania | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 14 |
| 3 | Denmark* | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 12 |
| 4 | Serbia | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −5 | 4 |
| 5 | Armenia | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | −9 | 2 |
*Denmark advances to the Playoffs while Portugal and Albania qualified directly