Klub Futbollistik Arbëria, commonly known as Arbëria, is a professional

football club A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...

based in village Dobrajë e Madhe of

Lipljan Lipjan ( sq-definite, Lipjani) or Lipljan ( sr-Cyrl, Липљан) is a town and municipality located in the Pristina District of Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Lipjan has 6,870 inhabitants, while the municipality has 57,605 i ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

. The club play in the

Football Superleague of Kosovo The Football Superleague of Kosovo ( sq, Superliga e Futbollit të Kosovës), also known as the ALBI MALL Superleague of Kosovo ( sq, ALBI MALL Superliga e Kosovës) for sponsorship reasons with Albi Mall, is the top level of the Kosovar football ...

, which is the top tier of football in the country.

History

Early years (1977–1990)

In 1977, a group of villagers sent a request to the village council of Dobrajë e Madhe expressing the common will to establish a football club. In June of the same year, some young people from the village before the village council proposed that this team be called KF Përparimi and this team would consist of young people from the village. The team at the first season was led by coach Adem Brestovci and part of the team were Xhelil Gashi ( GK), Elhami Llugiqi, Elmi Bublica, Enver Llugiqi, Fatmir Bytyqi, Haki Tafili, Heset Llugiqi, Ismet Uka, Nuhi Bahtiri, Nysret Llugiqi, Qemajl Rexhepi, Sali Nuredini, Skender Gashi, Sylejman Statovci, Shefqet Bahtiri, Shemsi Gashi and Xhevat Berbatovci. Some of the players of this team were guides for many other generations by inspiring many young people in the village over the years to play football and all this unfortunately ended temporarily in the 1990s, where due to the deteriorating situation in Kosovo, the Serbian occupators was stopped all activities (including even sports activities) throughout Kosovo.

Returning, extinguish and second returning

After seven years break, in 1997, it was again the sports fans of the village of Dobrajë e Madhe brought the club back to functionality, but the club would be called KF Arbëria, in honor of the donor of the club of that time, Nazmi Rrustemi, where one of his businesses bore the same name. From 2003 to 2010 it was part of

First Football League of Kosovo The First Football League of Kosovo ( sq, Liga e Parë e Futbollit të Kosovës) is the second level of the Kosovar football league system. The First League is organized by the Football Federation of Kosovo and the division currently has 2 groups ...

, while due to financial conditions in 2010, the team was extinguished. On 30 May 2016, KF Arbëria is reactivated and Jahir Krasniqi was appointed president of the club, the club was registered in the

Second Football League of Kosovo Liga e Dytë is the third level of football in Kosovo. It consists of 16 teams that play each other twice (home and away) during the season. At the end of the season, the top two teams in the division are promoted to the First Football League of ...

and after one season was promoted to the First Football League of Kosovo. In the 2019–20 season, KF Arbëria for the first time in its history secured promotion to the

and this came after

Football Federation of Kosovo The Football Federation of Kosovo ( sq, Federata e Futbollit e Kosovës; FFK) is the governing body of football in Kosovo, with headquarters in Pristina. The Football Federation of Kosovo was established in 1946 as a branch of the Football Associa ...

's executive council stopped the all competitions (including even First Football League of Kosovo) due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and decided that together with Besa Pejë, which until then were in the two first positions in the table be automatically promoted to the Superleague.

Players

Current squad

References

External links

* Arbëria 1977 establishments in Yugoslavia Association football clubs established in 1977 Association football clubs established in 1997 Association football clubs established in 2016 Arbëria Arbëria {{Kosovo-footyclub-stub