The Albania national football team

The Albania national football team (Albanian: Kombetarja e futbollit te Shqiperise) represents Albania in men's international football, and is governed by the Albanian Football Association, the governing body for football in Albania.

Albania competes in the three major international football tournaments; the FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championship and UEFA Nations League. Albania was the winner of the 1946 Balkan Cup and the 2000 Malta Rothmans International Tournament. At Euro 2016, Albania made its second appearance at a major men's football tournament after 50 years.

Since its completion in 2019, Arena Kombetare (English: National Arena), known as Air Albania Stadium for sponsorship reasons, has been the team's home ground. Albania's highest FIFA World Ranking was 22nd in August 2015.

The colours of the team are red, white and black, and the double headed eagle its symbol. Its supporters are collectively known as the Tifozet Kuq e Zi and display as well as the country's national flag colours, red and black.

In 2020, Albania won for the first time a group by finishing first in group 4 of UEFA Nations League C and has been promoted in UEFA Nations League B.

History

20th century

Although it never played any matches, the Albanian national football team existed before the Albanian Football Association (Federata Shqiptare e Futbollit; FSHF) was created on 6 June 1930. Albania joined FIFA during a congress held between 12 June and 16 June. Albania played its first international match against Yugoslavia in 1946, which ended in a 3–2 home defeat at Qemal Stafa Stadium. In 1946, Albania also participated for the first time in the Balkan Cup in which Albania won by beating Romania 1–0 in the final. In 1954, Albania was one of the founding members of UEFA. Albania waited until 1962 to compete in a Euro Cup competition and the only time Albania was between the best 16 teams of the Continent, the reason being Albania got past the first leg as Greece, for po

This page also has a version in other languages :  Сборная Албании по футболу (russian)