AF Elbasani (), is an

Albanian 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 ...

professional football club based in

Elbasan Elbasan ( , ; sq-definite, Elbasani, ) is the fourth most populous city of Albania and seat of Elbasan County and Elbasan Municipality. It lies to the north of the river Shkumbin between the Skanderbeg Mountains and the Myzeqe Plain in centr ...

. The club competes in

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 top tier of Albanian football. Their home ground is

Elbasan Arena Elbasan Arena (, formerly known as Ruzhdi Bizhuta) is a multi-purpose stadium in Elbasan, Albania. The stadium was completed in 1967 and has been the home ground of KF Elbasani ever since. The stadium was under reconstruction and was official ...

History

In 2021, the club was formed by the Elbasan Municipality after the disagreements with businessman Arben Laze who was the owner of the first football club

KF Elbasani Klubi i Futbollit Elbasani was an Albanian professional football club based in the city of Elbasan, that last competed in the Kategoria e Dytë, the third tier of football in the country. History The club was formed in 1929 as Klubi i Futbol ...

. Due to financial bankruptcy, Elbasani was seized by the Directorate of Taxes in Elbasan. So with the initiative of the fans they found the way and with the cooperation of Elbasan Municipality, AF Elbasani was created. In the 2021–2022 season, they competed in the fourth tier of Albanian football,

Kategoria e Tretë Kategoria e Tretë is the fourth tier of Albania's football league system. A total of 16 teams, split into 2 groups, are competing in the upcoming 2024–25 season. The winners of each group earn the right to promotion in Kategoria e Dytë and p ...

. In their first season, they achieved first place, gaining promotion to

Kategoria e Dytë Kategoria e Dytë is the third tier of professional football in Albania’s league system. Known as the Second Division since the 2004–05 season, it consists of 23 teams split into two geographically-based groups. The winners of each group secur ...

. In the 2022–2023 season, AF Elbasani finished first in the Group B of the Kategoria e Dytë, which gained them promotion for the first time to the

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 ...

. In their first season, they finished in 1st place, and were crowned champions and were promoted to the

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Staff

List of managers

* Gentian Stojku (2 Aug 2021–11 Apr 2023) * Eriol Merxha (12 Apr 2023 – 6 Jun 2023) *

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 ...

(7 Jun 2023– 1 Jul 2024) *

Roberto Bordin Roberto Bordin (born 10 January 1965) is a retired Italian footballer, who played as a midfielder. Career On 8 June 2018, Bordin was announced as Neftchi Bakus new manager on a two-year contract. On 18 of January 2020 the club announced the end ...

(8 Jul 2024– 5 Dec 2024) *

Ivan Gvozdenović Ivan Gvozdenović (Serbian Cyrillic: Иван Гвозденовић; born 19 August 1978) is a Serbian retired football defender, who is the current head coach of Elbasani in the Kategoria Superiore. Club career Gvozdenović started his care ...

(5 Dec 2024– )

Honours

** Champions (1): 2023–24 *

** Runners-up (1):

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 ...

** Champions (1): 2021-22

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elbasani AF Association football clubs established in 1913 Football clubs in Albania Football in Elbasan 1913 establishments in Albania