The Albania women's national football team ( sq, Kombëtarja e Femrave) represents the country of

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

in international football and is controlled by the

Albanian Football Association The Albanian Football Association ( sq, Federata Shqiptare e Futbollit; FSHF) is the governing body of football in Albania. The association is based in Tirana, Albania. It organises the national football leagues of the Albanian Superliga, the F ...

which is headquartered in the city 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 ...

. The team is affiliated with

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

and competes in the two major professional tournaments, the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

and the

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

. Women's football was long met with skepticism in Albania, and the first recorded tournament took place as late as 2007, before the FSHF formed the Albanian Women's National Championship in 2009, which is the only women's league in the country. The rise in popularity of the sport among women led to the formation of the Albania national team in 2011, and they made their debut in a friendly match against Macedonia that ended in a 1–0 win. The current head coach is Armir Grimaj, replacing

Altin Rraklli Altin Rraklli (born 17 July 1970) is an Albanian football coach and former player who played as a forward. Most of his professional career was spent in Germany, where he played for five clubs in both major levels of football, mainly SC Freib ...

who was in charge from the formation in 2011 until 2016.

History

The Albanian women's national football team was formed in 2011 and made their debut in a friendly against Macedonia FYR on 5 May 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. Towards the end of 2011, the national team strengthened its squad with the arrival of football players from the

Albanian diaspora The Albanian diaspora ( sq, Mërgata Shqiptare or Diaspora Shqiptare) are the ethnic Albanians and their descendants living outside of Albania, Kosovo, southeastern Montenegro, western North Macedonia, southeastern Serbia, northwestern Greece a ...

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. The second victory against Macedonia FYR is currently the national team's biggest win. On 15 May 2012, Albania faced

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

and won 4–2. Three days later, the Albanian team won again with a rematch against Montenegro, winning 4–3 at the

Loro Boriçi Stadium The Loro Boriçi Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi "Loro Boriçi"), previously known as Vojo Kushi Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi Vojo Kushi) is a multi-purpose stadium in Shkodër, Albania, which is used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Vllazn ...

in Shkodër. On 22 May, Albania encountered Macedonia FYR again, winning 2–0 with 2 goals from Suada Jashari. The national team had so far been undefeated in 5 games, with 15 goals scored, and 6 goals conceded. On 29 August, The Albania national team participated in an unofficial football tournament held in

Drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

. The national team drew 1–1 with Amazons Drama and lost 0–3 to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

Team image

Kits and crest

Kit suppliers

Home stadium

The

Elbasan Arena Elbasan Arena ( sq, Elbasan Arena, formerly known as Ruzhdi Bizhuta) is a multi-purpose stadium in Elbasan, Albania. The stadium was completed in 1967 and has been the home ground of KF Elbasani ever since. The stadium was under reconstruction a ...

is currently the national stadium of the Albania women's national football team. The first home match in the country was played in the Gjorgji Kyçyku Stadium of

Pogradec Pogradec () is the eleventh most populous city in Albania and the capital of the eponymous municipality. It is located on a narrow plain between two mountain chains along the southwestern banks of the Lake of Ohrid. Its climate is profoundly in ...

in May 2011. Following the completion, the

National Arena Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

will be the home venue of both the men's and women's national team. In November 2013, Qemal Stafa Stadium was shut down by FIFA for not fulfilling international standards. During the period of friendly games and the Euro qualifier with

in 2015, the women's team used the

Loni Papuçiu Stadium Loni Papuçiu Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi Loni Papuçiu) is a multi-use stadium in Fier, Albania which is used as the home ground of local football club Apolonia. It was built in 1958 and has been the Apolonia's home ground ever since. The stadium h ...

Fier Fier (; sq-definite, Fieri) is the seventh most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Fier County and Fier Municipality. It is situated on the bank of Gjanica River in the Myzeqe Plain between the Seman in the north, the Vjos ...

to hold their matches. The

Qemal Stafa Stadium The Qemal Stafa Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi Qemal Stafa), named after Qemal Stafa (1920–1942), a World War II hero, was a national stadium and the largest football stadium in Tirana, Albania. Construction started in 1939 and the stadium was inaugu ...

held the match between

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and Albania on 27 November 2015.

Results and fixtures

This Is the schedule of past & upcoming games for the Albania women's football team. ;Legend

2022

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

Manager history

(5 May 2011 – 22 April 2016) * Armir Grimaj (22 April 2016–present)

Players

Current squad

The following players were named to the squad for the matches against and on 25 and 30 November 2021. ''Caps and goals accurate up to and including 27 November 2020''.

Recent call ups

The following players have been called up to the squad in the past 12 months.

Records

Individual

''*Active players in bold.''

Most capped players

*Statistics correct as of 2020.

Top goalscorers

Competitive record

FIFA Women's World Cup

''*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.''

UEFA Women's Championship

Head-to-head record

References

External links

Official websiteFIFA profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albania Women's National Football Team European women's national association football teams

National team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

2011 establishments in Albania