Ardian Mema (born 16 November 1971 in

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 ...

) is a former

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 ...

n football player and current coach of

Kastrioti The House of Kastrioti ( sq, Dera e Kastriotëve) was an Albanian noble family, active in the 14th and 15th centuries as the rulers of the Principality of Kastrioti. At the beginning of the 15th century, the family controlled a territory in the ...

in the

Kategoria Superiore The Kategoria Superiore, officially known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons, is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Albanian football league system, it is the country's primary football compet ...

. He played for

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 ...

1989 and 2003 and has managed both the senior team and the reserves in 2007 and 2013 respectively.

Playing career

Club

Ardian was born into the prominent Mema footballing family, as his dad was former

and Albania international

Ali Mema Ali Mema (1 February 1943 – 26 March 2019) was an Albanian professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played for 17 Nëntori Tirana for the majority of his career as well as the Albania national team, whom he earned 14 senior caps ...

and his uncles Haxhi and Osman were both professional footballers too. His cousin

Sulejman Sulejman is the Bosnian and Albanian variant of Suleiman (Arabic language, Arabic ) as a given name and surname. It means "man of peace". It may refer to: *Sulejman Bargjini (also known as Sulejman Pasha), general of the Ottoman Empire *Sulejman D ...

was also a footballer and former KF Tirana player, as was Klevi Mema who died at the age of 19. He joined the senior team of KF Tirana in 1989 in the same year he began his further education at the Academy of Physical and Sports Education Vojo Kushi, where he graduated in 1993. He retired in 2003 from a 14-year career with KF Tirana where he won 6 league titles, 5

Albanian Cup The Albanian Cup ( sq, Kupa e Shqipërisë) is the main "knockout" competition in Albanian football. The competition started in 1939 as Kupa e Mbretit (English:"The King's Cup"). Just after a year the cup was suspended as the Second World War st ...

s and 4

Albanian Supercup The Albanian Supercup is a single match usually at the beginning of the season between the winners of the Kategoria Superiore and Albanian Cup. Supercup final was not played in the occasions when the champion team won the Double (association foot ...

s, as well as being in the team of the year in 5 consecutive seasons at the heigh of his career in the 90s.

International

He made his debut for

in an April 1995 European Championship qualification match against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and earned a total of 8 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a February 1998

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

Managerial career

Following his retirement Mema went into management and became the assistant coach of

in 2007, where he was also an interim manager for one game in 2007 before the arrival of

Astrit Hafizi Astrit Hafizi (born 15 September 1953) is a former Albanian footballer and coach of Vllaznia, as well as coach of Albania for a two years span (1997–1999). Playing career Club Born in Shkodër, Hafizi was brought to Shkëndija Tiranë by Z ...

. He then managed the Ali Dema futsal team before going on to manage the Albania national under 17 team for two and a half years in 2009. He was also instrumental in setting up the

KF Tirana B Klubi i Futbollit Tirana B is an Albanian football club based in Tirana. The club is the B team of Albania's most successful club KF Tirana. It was founded in 1932, but was dissolved before it was refounded on 22 January 2013. History In 1932, a ...

team in 2013, where he was also their first manager before stepping down to become the director of the KF Tirana academy, a post which he still holds.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

;Tirana *

Albanian Superliga The Kategoria Superiore, officially known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons, is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Albanian football league system, it is the country's primary football compet ...

: 1988–89, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2002–03Albania - Championship Winning Teams
- RSSSF *

: 1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2001–02 *

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Manager

Runners-up (1)

2018–19

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mema, Ardian 1971 births Living people Footballers from Tirana Albanian footballers Association football midfielders Albania international footballers KF Tirana players FK Partizani Tirana players Albanian football managers KF Tirana managers Kategoria Superiore managers