Kristal Abazaj (born 6 July 1996) is an Albanian professional

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

right winger 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

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 ...

club

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 ...

and the Albania national team.

Club career

Luftëtari Gjirokastër

In July 2016, Abazaj went on trial with

top flight Top Flight (April 15, 1929 – 1949) was an American U.S. Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. She was the leading American filly of her generation at two and three years of age. Background Bred in Kentucky by the very prominent horseman Harry ...

side Luftëtari Gjirokastër, a trail which he successfully passed, and in August 2016 signed the contract. He made his competitive debut as well as his first Albanian Superliga appearance in the opening matchday of 2016–17 season against

Partizani Tirana Futboll Klub Partizani, or FK Partizani for short, is an Albanian professional football club based in Tirana, that competes in the Kategoria Superiore. Founded in 1946, the club was historically affiliated to the Albanian army. Partizani's curren ...

which finished in a 0–1 loss. He finished his first season with Luftëtari by making 35 appearances, including 33 in league, 30 of them as starter, collecting 2507 minutes and scoring 3 goals as Lufëtari finished 4th in the championship. Abazaj was distinguished for his performances throughout the season and at the end of the campaign he was named one of the talents of the season. During the summer transfer window, Lufëtari declined several offers for Abazaj from in and outside the country. He started the second season on strong form, netting his team's only goal in the 2–1 defeat to

Teuta Durrës Teuta ( Illyrian: *''Teutana'', 'mistress of the people, queen'; grc, Τεύτα; lat, Teuta) was the queen regent of the Ardiaei tribe in Illyria, who reigned approximately from 231 BC to 228/227 BC. Following the death of her spouse Agro ...

in the opening week of championship. This was followed by another one which turned out to be the winner as Lufëtari defeated Laçi for the first three points of the season. On 17 December, Abazaj scored in the matchday 15 versus Partizani Tirana after collecting the ball on the right side near the halfway line, running 70 metres (229 ft), nutmegging Labinot Ibrahimi before beating

Alban Hoxha Alban Bekim Hoxha (; born 23 November 1987) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Albanian club Partizani and the Albania national team. Club career Dinamo Tirana Hoxha started youth football at age of 6 and was ...

with a right-footed shoot in an eventual 5–0 home win. He was named

Albanian Superliga Player of the Month The Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best Kategoria Superiore player each month of the season. It is presented by association "Sporti Na Bashkon". This award was established in the 2010–11 season. Winne ...

for December after bagging three goals in four matches, helping the team in their bid to escape relegation. At the end of the 2017–18, Abazaj was named

Albanian Superliga Talent of the Season The Kategoria Superiore Talent of the Year is an annual award given to the most talented player of the Kategoria Superiore by association "Sporti Na Bashkon". This award was established in the 2008–09 season. Winners Number of awards per play ...

, becoming the second ever Luftëtari player to win it.

Skënderbeu Korçë

On 5 January 2018,

Skënderbeu Korçë , reign = 28 November 1443 – 17 January 1468 , predecessor = Gjon Kastrioti , successor = Gjon Kastrioti II , spouse = Donika Arianiti , issue = Gjon Kastrioti II , royal house = Kastrioti , father ...

announced to have signed a pre-contract with Abazaj for €300,000. The player continued to represent Luftëtari as loanee until the end of the season.

Anderlecht

On 16 April 2018, it was announced that Abazaj has signed a three-year contract with Belgian side

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

. The transfer fee reportedly was €750,000 and the player will join the club on 1 July 2018.

Tirana

On 22 January 2023, Abazaj joined capital club

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 ...

by inking a one-and-a-half-year contract, taking the vacant squad number 77. He made his debut four days later in the 2–0 away win over Erzeni. Shortly after, he was struck by an injury which kept him out of action for more than a month. He returned in training in early March, and scored his first goals for the ''White and Blues'' on 16 April in the 2–1 comeback win over Egnatia.

International career

Youth

After a good run of form with Luftëtari, on 17 March 2017 Abazaj was named by manager

Alban Bushi Alban Bushi (born 20 August 1973) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player who is the current manager of Albania under-21 and under-20 team. He is nicknamed "Loku". During his playing career he played as a striker. Bushi ...

in the Albania under-21 squad to face

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

in a double

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 ...

. He made his first appearance on 25 March by playing 66 minutes as the first match finished in a goalless draw. Abazaj scored his first goal two days later to lead Albania into a 2–0 win. Abazaj continued to be part of the under-21 squad as he was called up in June for the friendly 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 ...

and the opening

qualifying Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

match of

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2019) was the 22nd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (25th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football ch ...

against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. He made his competitive debut on 12 June against Estonia playing 86 minutes in the goalless draw. Abazaj scored his first goals of the campaign in the matchday 3 against

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 ...

on 4 September 2017 where he scored twice to help Albania take an away 2–3 win, the first in

Group 2 The term Group 2 may refer to: * Alkaline earth metal, a chemical element classification * Astronaut Group 2, also known as The New Nine, the second group of astronauts selected by NASA in 1962 * Group 2 (racing), an FIA classification for cars in a ...

Senior

Abazaj received his first Albania senior call-up by manager

Christian Panucci Christian Panucci (; born 12 April 1973) is an Italian former association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager. In his playing career he played as a Defender (association football), defender. A versatile footballer, he ...

on 16 March 2018 for the friendly match against

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 ...

and he became the first Luftëtari player in 30 years to be called-up at senior side. On 29 May 2018, Abazaj made his debut with Albania in

against

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 ...

after coming on as a substitute at 69th minute in place of Emanuele Ndoj.

Personal life

Abazaj has cited his role model and favourite footballer the Brazilian striker

Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: As ...

. In an interview in December 2018, Abazaj unveiled that he is a longtime fan of

, adding that he used to go with his family to watch their games in stadium when he was young.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Tirana *

: **Runner-up:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Kupa e Shqipërisë 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 ...

**Runner-up:

Individual *

: December 2017 *

: 2017–18

References

External links

*
Kristal Abazaj
at 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 Fir ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abazaj, Kristal 1996 births Living people Footballers from Elbasan Albanian footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football midfielders Albanian men's footballers Albania men's youth international footballers Albania men's under-21 international footballers Albania men's international footballers KF Elbasani players KF Luftëtari players R.S.C. Anderlecht players NK Osijek players FK Kukësi players İstanbulspor footballers Albanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Croatia Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate footballers in Turkey Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Kategoria e Parë players Kategoria Superiore players Belgian Pro League players Croatian Football League players TFF First League players Süper Lig players