Renato Arapi (born 28 August 1986) is an Albanian professional

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 ...

coach and former

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

and

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He is an assistant coach with the Saudi club

Ohod Club Ohod Club () is a Saudi Arabian professional football club based in Medina, which competes in the Saudi First Division League. History Ohod was named after Mount Uhud, hence the nickname "Al-Jabal". Ohod have won the Saudi First Division three t ...

Club career

Early career

Arapi first joined local club

Teuta Durrës Klubi i Futbollit Teuta, commonly referred to as ''Teuta'', is an Albanian professional football club based in Durrës. The club competes in the Kategoria Superiore, the top tier of Albanian football. Their home ground is the Niko Dovana Stadiu ...

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

Dinamo Tirana Football Club Dinamo City, commonly referred to as Dinamo City and colloquially known as Dinamo, is an Albanian professional football club based out of Tirana. They compete in the Kategoria Superiore, the top tier of Albanian football. Founded i ...

. 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 Teuta Durrës on 3 May 2003 in a 2–0 loss for Arapi's side. He was loaned out to

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 ...

side Erzeni Shijak for the 2003–04 season, where he failed to break through into the first team and made two 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 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 ...

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 Besa Kavajë 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 () 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 ...

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 Silkeborg () is a Denmark, Danish town with a population of 52,571 (1 January 2025).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 for ...

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 Denmark, Danish sport corporation. They have a Football (soccer), football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two team handball, handball teams (SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female bas ...

. 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 (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

. 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 six 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. who is the current head coach of Tirana in the Kategoria Superiore. A former Albanian international, he has previously played for Ethnikos Aste ...

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 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 home ground is the newly built sta ...

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 three 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 ...

for a friendly against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

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

Besa Kavajë *

: 2006–07, 2009–10 Silkeborg *

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 for ...

runner-up: 2008–09 Skënderbeu Korçë *

(6):

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 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. Prior to 2000, Supercup final was not played when the champion team won the Double. However, after the ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Teuta Durrës * Albanian Superliga:

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 ...

* Albanian Supercup:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Individual * Albanian Superliga Team of the Year: 2013–14

References

External links

* *
Silkeborg IF profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arapi, Renato 1986 births Living people People from Sukth Footballers from Durrës County Men's association football central defenders Men's association football fullbacks Albanian men's footballers Albania men's international footballers KF Teuta players FC Dinamo City players KF Erzeni Shijak players KF Besa Kavajë players Silkeborg IF players KF Shkumbini Peqin players KF Skënderbeu Korçë players Boluspor footballers Albanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Kategoria Superiore players TFF 1. Lig players Danish 1st Division players Albanian football managers KF Teuta managers Kategoria Superiore managers Albanian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia 21st-century Albanian sportsmen