Renato Arapi (born 28 August 1986) is an

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 share ...

n professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

coach, former

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Early career

Arapi first joined local club

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 Agr ...

in 1993 as a young child, where he would remain for 9 years, playing for the different youth teams within the club before leaving in 2002 to join

Dinamo Tirana Futboll Club Dinamo Tirana is an Albanian professional football club based in the country's capital Tirana. They play in the Kategoria e Parë, the second tier of Albanian football, in the 2022–23 season. Founded in 1950 during the communist r ...

. Following his move he was placed into the U19 side with Dinamo Tirana, where his impressive displays earned him a call up to the senior side towards the end of the 2002–03 season, where he made his professional debut against his first club

on 3 May 2003 in a 2–0 loss for Arapi's side. He was loaned out to Albanian First Division side Erzeni Shijak for the 2003–04 season, where he failed to break through into the first team and only made 2 appearances for the club during his loan spell before returning to Dinamo Tirana. In the summer transfer window in 2005, Arapi left Dinamo Tirana after failing to establish himself in the first team at the club, and he joined newly promoted

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 compe ...

side

Besa Kavajë Besa or BESA may refer to: Arts & entertainment * ''Besa'' (newspaper), a newspaper published in Albania * ''Besa'' (TV series), a Serbian-British television series produced by Adrenalin and Red Planet Pictures * ''The Besa'', a novel by Albanian ...

Besa Kavajë

Arapi joined

and quickly established himself as a first team regular, playing in 19 league games and scoring one goal in his first season with the club, helping them to a respectable mid table 5th finish. The following season Besa Kavajë continued their good performances in the league, finishing once again in mid table, 6th out of 12 teams. Arapi was also a key figure in the club's

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 ...

campaign which saw him win his first major trophy after beating Teuta Durrës 3–2 in the final. The following season he played the first half of the season with Besa Kavajë before going on a trial with Danish side Silkeborg and eventually joining the club on loan in January 2008 after impressing the management.

Silkeborg

He joined newly relegated

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991 the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the format ...

side Silkeborg as a 21-year-old on a one-year loan deal from Besa Kavajë in January 2008 after initially impressing the club on trial. He joined the club mid season and featured in 10 league games, helping his side to a 3rd-place finish at the end of the 2007–08 season, missing out on the second promotion place to

SønderjyskE SønderjyskE is a Danish sport corporation. They have a football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two handball teams ( SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female based in Aabenraa) and an ice hockey te ...

. The following season he struggled for playing time, and only featured in 13 league games, but his side had a successful season in which they finished as runners-up in the league and earned promotion to the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

. His loan deal expired at the end of the 2008–09 season and Silkeborg did not take up the option to sign Arapi permanently, thus meaning that he returned to his parent club Besa Kavajë.

Return to Albania

After a spell away from Albanian football, Arapi returned to his homeland in the summer of 2009 and quickly became an important first team player once again at Besa Kavajë, who had one of their best seasons in their history, after they finished as runners-up in the

and they won the

. Arapi played in 31 league games and was a key driving force in Besa Kavajë's cup success, and he scored in the cup final against Vllaznia Shkodër in the 85th minute to take it to extra time, which is when Besa won the cup 2–1 over 120 minutes.

Skënderbeu Korçë

On 12 June 2015, Arapi signed a new one-year extension to his contract, lengthening his Skënderbeu Korçë career to 6 seasons. On 14 June 2016, Arapi officially announced his departure from the club after six years via an open later to the fans. He stated that the left the club for familial reasons. He, along with

Bledi Shkëmbi Bledi Shkëmbi (born 13 August 1979) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player. A former Albanian international, he has previously played for Ethnikos Asteras in Greece, Rijeka and Kamen Ingrad in Croatia, Metalurh Zaporiz ...

and Orges Shehi were the only players that won six consecutive league titles for the club.

Partizani Tirana

On 17 June 2016, Arapi joined fellow

side

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 current ...

on free transfer, signing a one-year contract. He was given the squad number 3, and made his competitive debut on 28 June in 2016–17 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round against Slovan Bratislava, which ended in a goalless draw.

Back to Teuta Durrës

On 30 January 2019, Arapi moved back to his home country after over two years in Turkey, and joined

. After helping them win 3 trophies as captain, he retired on 19 August 2021.

Post-playing career

After retiring from playing, on 20 August 2021, Teuta announced that Arapi would become their new sporting director.

International career

Arapi was selected by

Josip Kuže Josip Kuže (13 November 1952 – 16 June 2013) was a Croatian football manager and footballer. He was a player and later a manager of Dinamo Zagreb where he played for 10 years, making a total of 384 appearances and scoring 14 goals. Playing c ...

for a friendly against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

on 20 June 2011, receiving thus his first call-up to the senior side. He made his debut in the game which ended in a 4–0 loss by entering as an 81st-minute substitute.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

;Besa Kavajë *

(2): 2006–07, 2009–10 ;Silkeborg *

runner-up (1): 2008–09 ;Skënderbeu Korçë *

(6):

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16 *

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. However, after ...

(2):

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

;Teuta Durrës *

(1):

2020–21 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 ...

(1):

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Individual

Team of the Year: 2013–14

References

External links

* *
Silkeborg IF profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arapi, Renato 1986 births Living people People from Sukth Association football defenders Albanian footballers Albania international footballers KF Teuta Durrës players FK Dinamo Tirana players KF Erzeni players Besa Kavajë players Silkeborg IF players KS Shkumbini Peqin players KF Skënderbeu Korçë players Boluspor footballers Albanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Denmark Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate footballers in Turkey Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Kategoria Superiore players Albanian football managers KF Teuta Durrës managers Kategoria Superiore managers