The Shqiponjat Squad for the matches against Andorra, England and San Marino  March 2021
←Last Albania Squad that faced England (783) Next Albanian Squad that faced England (1027)→
Player	Birthdate	Age	Pos	Club	App	G
Ajeti, Arlind Afrim	25 September 1993 in Basel, Switzerland	27	CD	AC Reggiana 1919, Italy	20	1
				also has various Swiss youth appearances
Bajrami, Nedim	28 February 1999 in Zürich, Switzerland	22	AM	FC Empoli, Italy	0	0
				also has various Swiss youth appearances
Bare, Keidi	28 August 1997	23	AM	RCD Espanyol de Barcelona, Spain	11	2
Berisha, Etrit Fadil	10 March 1989 in Pristina, Yugoslavia	32	G	Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, Italy	65	0
Broja, Armando	10 September 2001 in Slough, England	19	F	SBV Vitesse, Netherlands, on loan from Chelsea FC, England	4	0
Çikalleshi, Sokol	27 July 1990	30	F	Konyaspor Kulübü, Turkey	39	10
Çokaj, Enis	23 February 1999	22	DM	Nk Lokomotiva Zagreb, Croatia	0	0
Doka, Albi	26 June 1997	23	RB	Hnk Gorica, Croatia	3	0
Gjasula, Klaus Fatmir	14 December 1989	31	DM	Hamburger SV, Germany	10	0
Gjimshiti, Berat Ridvan	19 February 1993 in Zürich, Switzerland	28	CD	Atalanta Bergamasco Calcio, Italy	36	1
				also has various Swiss youth appearances
Hoxhallari, Erion	15 October 1995	25	LB	KF Tirana B, on loan from KF Tirana	1	0
Hysaj, Elseid Gëzim	20 February 1994	27	RB	SSC Napoli, Italy	58	1
Ismajli, Ardian Ilmi	30 September 1996	24	CD	Spezia Calcio, Italy	15	1
				also has one Kosovo appearance & nine U21 apps
Kallaku, Sherif	1 March 1998	23	CM	Nk Lokomotiva Zagreb, Croatia	3	0
Kamberi, Florian	8 March 1995 in Zürich, Switzerland	26	F	Aberdeen FC, England, on loan from Fc St. Gallen 1879, Switzerland	0	0
				also has various Swiss youth appearances
Kumbulla, Marash Nikolin	8 February 2000 in Peschiera del Garda, Italy	21	CD	AS Roma, Italy, on loan from Hellas Verona FC, Italy	4	0
	Kumbulla withdrew from the squad on 27 March because of a knee injury
Laçi, Qazim	19 January 1996	25	CM	AC Ajaccio, France	6	0
Lenjani, Ermir Limon	5 August 1989 in Karaçevë, Yugoslavia	31	D/M	Grasshoppers Club Zürich, Switzerland	35	4
Manaj, Rey Aldo	24 February 1997	24	F	FC Barcelona B, Spain	21	5
Memolla, Hysen	3 July 1992	28	LB	Diósgyőri VTK, Hungary	5	0
Memushaj, Ledian	7 December 1986	34	CM	Delfino Pescara 1936, Italy	43	1
Mitaj, Mario	6 August 2003	17	LB	Athlitikí Énosis Konstadinoupóleos, Greece	0	0
Ramadani, YIber Latif	12 April 1996 in Starnberg, Germany	24	DM	Vejle Bk, Denmark	9	1
				also has one Kosovo U19 appearance and one goal
Roshi, Odise	22 May 1991	29	RM	Diósgyőri VTK, Hungary, on loan from RFC Akhmat, Russia	60	5
Selmani, Gentian	9 March 1988	23	G	Menemen SK, Turkey	0	0
Strakhosa, Thomas Fotaq	19 March 1995 in Athens, Greece	26	G	SS Lazio, Italy	14	0
Uzuni, Myrto	31 May 1995	25	F	Ferencvárosi TC, Hungary	13	1
Veseli, Frédéric Shtjefan	10 November 1992 in Renens, Switzerland	28	CD	US Salernitana 1919, Italy	32	0
				also has various Swiss youth appearances

Squad details correct up to and including Albania's match against Andorra on 25 March 2021.
Tallies taken from FSHF

Diary

Sunday, 21 March 2021, 10am - Team coach Edoardo Reja has announced his list of 28 players who have been invited to take part in Albania's World Cup qualification matches this month, against Andorra, England and San Marino. The Albanian Football Association have also asked the Government to allow 30% of the fans into Air Albania Stadium in order to watch the match against England.

Monday, 22 March 2021 - Part of the Albanian squad hold its first training session at Espanyol's sports centre in Barcelona performing a full-intensity training session. Another group have only done a partial session, that group were involved in club matches over the weekend - Sokol Cikalleshi, Elseid Hysajm Berat Gjimshit, Armando Broja, Erion Hoxhallari, Yiber Ramadani and Florian Kamberi.  Three more players - Etrit Berisha, Mario Mitaj and Federik Veseli - join the squad after the training as ended.

Tuesday, 23 March 2021 - The Albanian squad held its second training session. It is the first session to contain all of the announced the squad.

Wednesday, 24 March 2021 - The Albanian squad leave Barcelona for Andorra. In the afternoon, the team hold its first official training session at the Estadi Nacional. The training session focused on the tactical aspect of the match. Edoardo Reja has his entire squad available with no injury concerns. The squad have also undergone covid-testing, which all returned negative results.

Thursday, 25 March 2021, 11.33am - England's qualifier against Albania in Tirana on Sunday is at risk of being called off because of an issue over security. The FSHF said it has been informed by local police that the force cannot guarantee the safety of the teams. The FA responded with "We will continue to liaise with the relevant authorities." The AFA's dilemma follows its request for a restricted number of fans vaccinated against Covid-19 be permitted to attend the game, which was rejected by government. The Group I match will therefore be played behind closed doors, and with no other lockdown measures in place in in the country it could mean the area around the the Air Albania Stadium could be busy, seemingly with no promise of adequate policing. "Today a letter arrived which states that the structures of the local police directorate of Tirana do not guarantee the taking of measures before, during and after the Albania-England match on 28 March. Faced with the situation where the state authorities did not react after the request of the Albanian Football Federation for the release of spaces on the perimeter of the national stadium, we request urgent response of these structures. The cancellation of the Albania-England match scheduled to be played at Air Albania Stadium would have catastrophic consequences for the image of our country, the national team and in general for Albanian football."
It appears that before the match with Andorra took place that these security fears were addressed and the game against England can now go ahead as planned.
9.36pm - Andorra 0 Albania 1 - Andorra can perhaps consider themselves a little unfortunate not to have found the net after producing a couple of shots on target in the second half, but Albania are deserved winners thanks to Lenjani's first-half strike. The visitors have their first qualifying points on the board. However, centre-half Maresh Kumbulla has picked up an injury to his right knee and has returned to his club.

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CG