Furtuna Velaj (born 8 March 1990) is a Kosovan-born Albanian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for the Albania national team.

Club career

Velaj played for four years at

Quinnipiac University Quinnipiac University () is a private university in Hamden, Connecticut. The university grants undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees through its College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Engineering, School of C ...

, scoring 39 goals in 63 matches and receiving many conference and regional accolades. After graduation, Velaj joined the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defunct Women's ...

in the WPSL as a forward winger, but missed the season due to an injury. Her team was the 2012 WPSL regular-season champions. Velaj continued overseas, first joining Afturelding in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

for the second half of the Icelandic Urvalsdeild. Velaj tried to return to play in the new NWSL league as a

trialist In sports, a loan involves a particular player being able to temporarily play for a club other than the one to which they are currently contracted. Loan deals may last from a few weeks to a full season, sometimes persisting for multiple seasons ...

with the Portland Thorns, but did not make the squad and settled for the amateur team,

Toronto Lady Lynx Toronto Lady Lynx was a Canadian women's soccer team, founded in 2005. The team was a member of the USL W-League, formerly the second tier of women’s soccer in the United States and Canada. The team played in the Great Lakes Division of the Cen ...

in the

USL W-League The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

. After a good season for Lady Lynx she signed a contract from the former

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champions and was meant as a reinforce before the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

. She made her debut in the 4–1 loss against

Åland United Åland United is a Finnish women's football club based in Lemland, Åland. They compete in the Kansallinen Liiga, the premier women's football league in Finland. In 2004 Åland's clubs Lemlands IF and IF Finströms Kamraterna decided to stren ...

on 27 July 2013, where she came in as a substitute. After finishing the season in Finland at second place and winning the 2013

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands cup) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the ...

with her team, she transferred to

Kolbotn IL Kolbotn Idrettslag is a sports club from Kolbotn, Norway. Since 1960, the club has been organized in semi-autonomous sub-sections. The club runs basketball, amateur wrestling, association football, sport gymnastics, disabled sports, handball, o ...

in the Norwegian Toppserie at the beginning of 2014. Velaj played for

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 ...

Sarpsborg Sarpsborg ( or ), historically Borg, is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sarpsborg. Sarpsborg is part of the fifth largest urban area in Norway when paired with neigh ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in late 2013, and shortly afterwards she signed a contract with the Norwegian club

. She received a shoulder injury playing for the club at

La Manga La Manga (), or La Manga del Mar Menor (meaning "The Sandbar of the Minor Sea") is a seaside spit of Mar Menor in the Region of Murcia, Spain. The strip is 21 km long and 100 metres wide (average), separating the Mediterranean Sea from the ...

. After a successful season with Kolbotn IL she transferred to

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

club

SC Sand SC Sand is a German sport club from Willstätt, Baden-Württemberg. The club was founded on 11 August 1946 and competes in football, aerobics, judo and qigong. The club is most known for its women's football section which plays in the Bundesliga ...

, where she played for the first and second team. Velaj helped SC Sand II win the Sud Regional Championship, helping the team get promoted to 2nd Bundesliga in 2015 and finishing as top goalscorer in the league with 20 goals. Velaj played one season with the 2nd team and two half season with the first team.

International career

Velaj helped the Albania national team qualify twice in the

world cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

preliminary qualifiers in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

and to advance to the UEFA World Cup

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...

in 2013 and 2017. She is the top goal scorer for the Albanian Women's National team with 6 goals and 2 assists. She has featured for Albania 21 times. Her first stint as captain came in 2016 in the last match of the UEFA European group stage qualifiers against

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 ...

References

1990 births Living people Albanian women's footballers Women's association football midfielders Furtuna Velaj PK-35 Vantaa (women) players Kolbotn Fotball players SC Sand players Toppserien players Albania women's international footballers Albanian expatriate women's footballers Albanian expatriates in Iceland Expatriate women's footballers in Iceland Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate women's soccer players in Canada Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate women's footballers in Finland Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate women's footballers in Norway Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany People from Deçan Expatriates in Iceland Kosovan expatriate women's footballers Kosovan expatriates in Canada Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Finland Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Norway Kosovan expatriate sportspeople in Germany Kosovan people of Albanian descent Sportspeople of Albanian descent Kosovan emigrants to the United States Naturalized citizens of the United States Sportspeople from Stamford, Connecticut Soccer players from Connecticut American women's soccer players Quinnipiac Bobcats women's soccer players Boston Breakers players American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Iceland American expatriate sportspeople in Canada American expatriate sportspeople in Finland American expatriate sportspeople in Norway American expatriate soccer players in Germany American people of Albanian descent Toronto Lady Lynx players {{US-footy-midfielder-stub