The 2012–13 season was Klubi i Futbollit Tirana's 74th competitive season, 74th consecutive season in the Kategoria Superiore and 92nd year in existence as a football club. Following the title win four seasons ago, KF Tirana added to their 23 titles to make it their record 24th title win.

KF Tirana Klubi i Futbollit Tirana (KF Tirana) is an Albanian football club based in the country's capital city, Tirana. The men's football club is part of the multi-disciplinary sports club SK Tirana, and is the most successful in Albania, having won 54 ...

played

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

against

CS Grevenmacher Club Sportif Grevenmacher is a football club, based in Grevenmacher, in eastern Luxembourg. History The club was founded in 1909 as '' 'Stade Mosellan' ''. The current name of the club, '' 'CS Grevenmacher' '', was adopted in 1919. During t ...

and Aalesunds FK.

2012

The club could get organized better for the current season, starting from

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

participation. Even though having a healthy budget, club officials were too late to bring quality players on time, adding here the fact that they let go of main attacker, Bekim Balaj for a funny transfer sum to AC Sparta Prague despite Balaj still had six month of contract left. And lost few other players, however, they have the merit to keep team's core and also bringing some new arrivals, all for sake of achieving the title after three years drought. Tirana managed to pass only one round in

, eliminating

of Luxembourg, before being knocked out from Norwegians of Aalesunds FK in the 2nd round. Tirana won again the

Supercup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

(their jubilee 10th trophy), by beating on their 3rd final clash KF Skënderbeu Korçë. Despite due to extend his link with Tirana for the following two seasons and continuing the project, the successful Spanish coach, Rubio, did not sign that contract officially, due to some clauses on which himself and the club did not agree and eventually him and the club departed ways after over 13 months cooperation.

Artur Lekbello Artur Lekbello (born 23 February 1966) is an Albanian retired football midfielder. His nickname, ''Tushe'', is a short form of his first name. Playing career Club Lekbello played for Nëntori Tirana and left communist Albania in 1991, joining ...

was appointed Tirana new coach, but despite his credits as a player in the past, he did not prove that successful as a coach and therefore presented his resignation to club administrator after only 42 days, following unpleasant results in Tirana's bench.

Alban Tafaj Alban Tafaj (born 3 December 1971) is an Albanian former professional Manager (association football), football manager and retired Football player, player. He played for both Albanian KF Tirana–Partizani Tirana rivalry, city rivals FK Partizan ...

once again took the vacant place as a temporary coach. The end of the year 2012 found KF Tirana in the 3rd spot of 2012-13 Kategoria Superiore, 11 points adrift leaders KF Skënderbeu Korçë. Tirana were also eliminated early in the Cup. After passed

KF Partizani Futboll Klub Partizani, or FK Partizani for short, is an Albanian professional football club (association football), football club based in Tirana, that competes in the Kategoria Superiore. Founded in 1946, the club was historically affiliated to ...

at the first round winning both matches, 2-1 and 1-0 they were eliminated at second round from debut team,

FK Kukësi Futboll Klub Kukësi is an Albanian professional football club based in the city of Kukës. The club plays its home games at the Zeqir Ymeri Stadium and they currently compete in the Kategoria Superiore, the highest tier of Albanian football. Th ...

losing first leg 0-4 and winning second one 3-2.

Background

Kit

*Supplier: Errea *Sponsor:

Municipality of Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

American Hospital The American Hospital of Paris (''Hôpital américain de Paris''), founded in 1906, is a private, not-for-profit hospital that is certified under the French healthcare system. Located in Neuilly-sur-Seine, in the western suburbs of Paris, Franc ...

, Lajthiza Water,

Belle Air Belle Air Sh.p.k (stylized as ''belleair'') was a privately owned Albanian low-cost airline headquartered in Tirana. History Belle Air was founded in 2005. It ceased operations on 24 November 2013 stating economic difficulties. Their fleet has ...

, Tirana Brewing House, Tirana Dekor,

Other information

Coaching staff

Players

2012–13 squad

Out on loan

International players

Foreign players

Reserves and academy

Competitions

Albanian Supercup

Kategoria Superiore

League table

Results summary

Results by round

Matches

Albanian Cup

First round

Second round

UEFA Europa League

First qualifying round

Second qualifying round

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tirana Season 2012-13 2012-13 Albanian football clubs 2012–13 season