The Albanian Football Federation (; FSHF) is the governing body of

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 ...

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 ...

. Headquartered in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, 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 ov ...

, it organises the national football leagues of

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Albanian Cup The Albanian Cup () is the main "knockout" competition in Albanian football. The competition started in 1939 as Kupa e Mbretit ( English:"The King's Cup"). The cup was suspended for the next eight years as the Second World War started. It start ...

, Supercup,

Kategoria Superiore Femra Kategoria Superiore Femra, known officially as ''Abissnet Superiore Femra'', is the highest division of women's association football, women's football in Albania. The league is the female equivalent to the men's Kategoria Superiore. The current se ...

and the Albanian Women's Cup. The federation also coordinates and oversees the activities of the

Albania national football team The Albania national football team () represents Albania in men's international Association football, football. It is governed by the Albanian Football Federation (FSHF), the governing body for football in Albania. It is a member of UEFA in Eur ...

, Albania women's national football team and the Albania national youth football teams such as Under-21, Under-20, Under-19, Under-18, Under-17, Under-16 and Under-15.

History

On June 6, 1930, the government of

King Zog I Zog I (born Ahmed Muhtar Zogolli; 8 October 18959 April 1961) was the leader of Albania from 1922 to 1939. At age 27, he first served as Albania's youngest ever Prime Minister (1922–1924), then as president (1925–1928), and finally as King ...

issued a royal decree recognising the establishment of the Albanian Sports Federation. The newly formed sports entity would join the world governing body,

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

, during the June Congress of 1932, officially marking Albania’s participation in international football. A revised order was issued in March of 1934, to dissolve the Federation, transferring its authority to the heads of the national entity "Vllaznija Shqiptare" (est.1928), which was in charge of various sports activities at the time. The federation was one of the founding members of

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

in 1954. On 14 March 2008, FSHF were suspended by FIFA for "heavy political interference." This meant that their national teams were banned from playing official matches, representatives banned from official events, and referees unable to officiate FIFA-sanctioned matches. The ban was subsequently lifted as the political interferences were clarified, and on 27 May 2008, Albania played a friendly against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. The current president of FSHF, Armand Duka, has been at this position since 2002 and won the elections for a third term in 2010. During the 2009 controversy between FSHF and the Albanian government as to the property of 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 ...

insisted in lobbying that the stadium be given to FSHF ownership so that investments on it can be made. In February 2011 it was decided that the new stadium, which will replace the current one and will cost 60M Euro, will be 75% of FSHF and 25% of the Albanian government.

Offices

Headquarters Federata Shqiptare e Futbollit

Durrës Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the List of cities and towns in Albania#List, second most populous city of the Albania, Republic of Albania and county seat, seat of Durrës County and Durrës Municipality. It is one of Albania's oldest ...

Inagurohet zyra e pare rajonale e FSHF-se ne Durres

FSHF 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, Albania ...

.org *

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra; historically known as Scodra or Scutari) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, fifth-most-populous city of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. Shkodër has been List of o ...

Presidents

Current sponsorships

General Sponsor *

Vodafone Albania Vodafone Albania SH.A is a major telecommunications company based in Tirana, Albania. It is part of the Vodafone Group. Technology Vodafone Albania started offering GSM services on August 3, 2001, after AMC started doing so in 1996. In 2011, ...

Technical Sponsor * Macron Premium Sponsor * SIGAL Official Sponsors *

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Denver, Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the co ...

* Altin Mici Atelier * Karrota *

Credins Bank Credins Bank is an Albanian bank, established in Albania in March 2003 by a group of businessmen as the first private bank with Albanian capital. The head office is located in Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and to ...

* Uji Tepelene * ama Caffe * Infinity Destinations * Match Worn Shirt * Via Hotels * Abissnet

References

External links

*
FSHF Documentary about Albania football history
{{Sports governing bodies in Albania

Football in Albania Futsal in Albania

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 ...