Luftëtari Football Club, also known as Klubi i Futbollit Luftëtari or simply Luftëtari, was an

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in Southern Albania, southern Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë moun ...

. The club was founded on 1926 as Shqiponja Gjirokastër and has played at its home ground, the

Gjirokastra Stadium Gjirokastra Stadium () is a multi-use stadium in Gjirokastër, Albania. It is used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of KS Luftëtari Gjirokastër. The stadium has a capacity of 8,400 people. This is the first time after 1972 th ...

, since 1973. They last competed in the

Kategoria Superiore Kategoria Superiore (), also known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons with internet service provider, Abissnet, is a professional league for men's association football clubs in Albania. At the top of the Albanian football league syste ...

, the first tier of football in the country.

History

Early history

The club was founded in 1930 under the name ''Shqiponja Gjirokastër''. It underwent many subsequent name changes over the years: ''Gjirokastër'' (1949), ''Puna Gjirokastër'' (1951), ''Luftëtari Gjirokastër'' (1958), ''Shqiponja Gjirokastër'' (1992) and to its current name ''Luftëtari Gjirokastër'' in 2002. During the

Communist Albania The People's Socialist Republic of Albania, () was the Marxist-Leninist state that existed in Albania from 10 January 1946 to the 29 April 1991. Originally founded as the People's Republic of Albania from 1946 to 1976, it was governed by the Pa ...

Luftetari was deemed to have a good football academy, which provided for several national team players, such as Theodhori Kalluci,

Sefedin Braho Sefedin Braho (18 August 1953 – 6 October 2024) was an Albanian association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward for KS Luftëtari Gjirokastër, Luftëtari and FK Partizani Tirana, Partizani in Albania. ...

Lefter Millo Lefter Millo (Greek: Λευτέρης Μίλος) (2 August 1966, Derviçan, Albania, – 8 March 1997, Giannouli, Greece) was an Albanian football midfielder, who was part of the Greek minority in Albania. Club career He made his senior deb ...

, Arjan Xhumba,

Arjan Bellaj Arjan Bella (born 1 February 1971) is an Albanian professional football manager and a former midfielder. He is the manager of Vora. Club career Bellaj played for PAS Giannina, Kalamata F.C., Apollon Athens F.C., Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. and Pa ...

Altin Haxhi Altin Haxhi (born 17 June 1975) is an Albanian retired footballer who played as a defender. Club career Haxhi's former clubs include Shqiponja Gjirokastër, Panachaiki, Litex Lovech, Iraklis, CSKA Sofia, Apollon Kalamarias, Anorthosis ...

, and Gjergji Kalluci. Luftëtari finished as the league runner-up in the 1977–78 season, their highest achievement ever.

Final years and collapse

On 2 July 2015 Mustafa Hysi was appointed as the club's head coach Gentian Nora as general sport director of the 2015–16

Albanian Superliga Kategoria Superiore (), also known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons with internet service provider, Abissnet, is a professional league for men's association football clubs in Albania. At the top of the Albanian football league syste ...

season, with the aim of achieving promotion back to the

. Luftëtari were promoted back to Albanian Superliga after a three-year absence as they defeated

Apolonia Fier Futboll Klub Apolonia Fier is an Albanian football club based in Fier. The club was founded on 17 June 1925 and took its name from the nearby ruins of the ancient city of Apollonia. The club currently competes in Kategoria e Parë, the secon ...

on the last matchday of the regular season in Group B of the

Albanian First Division Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

. They then faced Group A winners

Korabi Peshkopi KF Korabi is an Albanian football club based in Peshkopi, named after the nearby Mount Korab, which is the tallest mountain in Albania and North Macedonia. The club's home ground is the Korabi Stadium. History Early years The club was founded ...

in the championship final at the

Qemal Stafa Stadium The Qemal Stafa Stadium (), named after Qemal Stafa (1920–1942), a World War II hero, was a national stadium and the largest football stadium in Tirana, Albania. Construction started in 1939 and the stadium was inaugurated in 1946 for the Ba ...

on 19 May 2016, where they clinched their 8th First Division title as they won 11–10 in a penalty shootout that saw 24 penalties being taken following a goalless draw and extra time. Making a surprise performance in 2016–2017 season Luftetari finished in 4th Position after more than 20 years with Mladen Milinkovic as Head coach and Gentian Nora as General and Sport Director By finishing third in the Albanian Superliga 2017–18 season with Hasan Lika as Head coach and Gentian Nora as Sport Director, they will make its debut in the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League season.Gentian Nora, who served as General and Sport Director, and Hasan Lika, the coach who led Luftëtari to European competition for the first time in its history, both emigrated to the United States in 2019. After their departure, the club underwent several changes in management and coaching staff. In 2021, due to internal conflicts between stakeholders, the club decided not to participate in the Albanian championships anymore. A new club, AF Luftëtari, was later established in the same city by a group of fans. However, this new entity has no official connection with the historic KF Luftetari A new team was established and named

AF Luftëtari Akademia e Futbollit Luftëtari, commonly known as Luftëtari (), is a football club based in Gjirokastër. The club plays in the Kategoria e Parë, which is the second tier of football in the country. History After the dissolution of KF Luft ...

which had to start at the third tier of Albanian football.

Stadium

The club plays its home games at the

, which was built in 1973 and is located near the centre of Gjirokastër and holds 8,400 spectators. Following Luftëtari's promotion back to the

in 2016, the stadium required a complete renovation in order to meet the necessary requirements to host home games in the top flight. Work on the stadium began in August 2016 and the surface was to be replaced and plastic seats were to be installed throughout the stadium. The first stage of the reconstruction was completed in November 2016, which meant that the stadium was able to host

games once again. The first stage consisted of replacing the playing surface, the installation of 300 plastic seats in the main stand, the installation of CCTV as well as the refurbishment of the changing room for both players and officials. The cost of the work carried out totalled 15,000,000

Albanian lek The lek (; indefinite singular ''lek'', definite plural ''lekët'', indefinite plural ''lekë''; Currency symbol, sign: L; ISO 4217, code: ALL) is the currency of Albania. Historically, it was subdivided into 100 ''qintars'' (; singular ''qinda ...

, around €110,000 at the time, and it was a joint investment by the Municipality of Gjirokastër, the

Albanian Football Association The Albanian Football Federation (; FSHF) is the governing body of football in Albania. Headquartered in Tirana, it organises the national football leagues of Kategoria Superiore, Kategoria e Parë, Kategoria e Dytë, Kategoria e Tretë, Alba ...

as well as the club's owner Grigor Tavo. The first game of the 2016–17 season to take place at the stadium came against Partizani which ended 1–1 with around 7,000 fans in attendance.

Honours

Major trophies

;League *

** Runners-up (1): 1977–78 *

Kategoria e Parë Kategoria e Parë is the second tier of professional football in Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Se ...

(Tier 2) ** Winners (8): 1934, 1962–63, 1965–66, 1974–75, 1988–89, 1993–94, 1998–99, 2011–12, 2015–16 ** Runners-up (2): 1954, 1960

Minor trophies

* Zëri i Popullit Cup ** Winners (1): 1977 * Bashkimi Cup ** Winners (1): 1983 *Zëri i Rinisë Cup ** Winners (1): 1982 *Shtypi Popullor Shqiptar Cup ** Winners (1): 1977 *50th Anniversary of Football in Albania Cup ** Winners (1): 1963

European record

''As of 12 July 2018'' ;Notes * QR: Qualifying round

Current squad

Other players under contract

Out on loan

List of managers

Adem Karapici Adem Karapici (1912–1972) was an Albanian football player and coach who played for Sportklub Tiranë in the 1930s where he won six National Championships. Managerial career As a coach, he was in charge of Albania national team for five games ...

* Bahri Ishka * Hito Hitaj (1978–1991)Kohë të Shkuara por të Paharruara të Futbollit Gjirokastrit me Trajner Hito Hitaj!
- Gjirokastra Online *

Dhori Kalluci The Albania national football team has represented Albania in international association football since 1946. The Albanian Football Association (Federata Shqiptare e Futbollit; FSHF) was founded in 1930 and became a member of the Fédération Inte ...

(1993–1994) * Hito Hitaj (1994–1995) * Mustafa Hysi (1995–1996) *

Kristaq Ciko Kristaq is an Albanian masculine given name. People named Kristaq include: *Kristaq Antoniu (1907–1979) (aka Cristache Antoniu), Romanian operetta tenor, baritone, and actor *Kristaq Dhamo (1933–2022), Albanian actor and film director *Kristaq ...

(1997) * Mustafa Hysi (1997–1999) * Faruk Sejdini (1999–2000) *

Hysen Dedja Hysen Dedja (born 16 October 1960) is an Albanian football manager and former player. Playing career A former defender and captain of his hometown club Vllaznia Shkodër, he made his debut for them on 16 October 1978, his 18th birthday, again ...

(2000) * Mustafa Hysi (2001) * Mihal Çoni (2001) * Ruzhdi Lamaj (2001–2002) * Andrea Marko (2002) *

Mihal Çabi Mihal is a unisex name that means "who is like a God". Its origin is from Romansh. Mihal or Mihál is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Dzianis Mihal (born 1985), Belarusian rower *Joe Mihal (1916–1979), American football pl ...

(2002–2003) *

Andrea Çulli Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ref ...

(2002–2003) * Arben Kumbulla (2003–2004) * Mustafa Hysi ( – 30 Aug 2006) * Ilir Spahiu (30 Aug 2006 – 12 Mar 2007) * Mustafa Hysi (12 Mar 2007 – 8 Apr 2007) * Edi Martini (8 Apr 2007 – Jun 2007) *

(2007 - 2008) * Mustafa Hysi (Jul 2011 – 31 Dec 2011) *

Nevil Dede Nevil Thanas Dede (born 10 January 1975) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player. A centre-back, Dede spent most of his club career with his hometown club Tirana, winning a string of trophies, including 8 championships, bei ...

(1 Jan 2012 – 28 Oct 2012) * Edi Martini (28 Oct 2012 - 1 Apr 2013) *

(1 Apr 2013 – Oct 2013) * Petraq Bifsha (2013 - 2014) *

Bledar Devolli Bledar Devolli (born 15 January 1978) is an Albanian professional Association football, football coach and former player. Club career Devolli was released by the Flamurtari chairman Shpëtim Gjika on 19 July 2011, along with three other main pla ...

(8 Jul 2014 - 8 Feb 2015) * Vladimir Gjoni (Mar 2015 - May 2015) * Mustafa Hysi (Aug 2015 - 29 Feb 2016) * Gerd Haxhiu (29 Feb 2016 – May 2016) *

Mladen Milinković Mladen Milinković (Serbian Cyrillic: Младен Милинковић; born 14 May 1968) is a Serbian football coach and former player. He played as midfielder for FK Loznica, FK Mačva Šabac, Drina Zvornik, Omonia Aradippou from Cyprus, FF ...

(Jul 2016 - Jun 2017) * Daniel Fernández (Aug 2017 - Oct 2017) * Hasan Lika (Oct 2017 - May 2018) *

Miloš Kostić Miloš Kostić (born 23 November 1971) is a Slovenian professional football manager, currently in charge of Tajikistan U20, and former player. He was most recently the manager of Belgian First Division A club Sint-Truiden. Honours Player Goric ...

(1 Jul 2018 - 19 Sep 2018) * Gentian Mezani (19 Sep 2018 - 28 Jan 2019) * Julian Ahmataj (29 Jan 2019 - 1 June 2019) *

Klodian Duro Klodian Duro (; born 21 December 1977) is an Albanian retired professional football and current coach of Gjilani of the Superliga e Kosoves. He was a versatile midfielder who usually played in an attacking role. His brother Albert Duro was al ...

(3 June 2019 - 23 Sep 2019 ) * Georgios Marantas (24 Sep 2019 - 14 Dec 2019 ) * Neritan Novi (15 Dec 2019 - 5 Jan 2020 ) *

Nikolin Çoçlli Nikolin Çoçlli (born 17 October 1968) is an Albanian association football, football manager and former player. References

1966 births Living people Footballers from Korçë County Footballers from Korçë Albanian men's footballers Me ...

(6 Jan 2020 - )

Presidents

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luftetari Gjirokastër Football clubs in Albania Defunct football clubs in Albania Association football clubs established in 1929 Association football clubs disestablished in 2020 1929 establishments in Albania 2020 disestablishments in Albania Luftëtari FC