Tefik Osmani (born 8 June 1985) 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 ...

official and a former

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 the sporting director for Albanian club

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 ...

Club career

Early career

Osmani started his career with his local club

Skënderbeu Korçë Gjergj Kastrioti (17 January 1468), commonly known as Skanderbeg, was an Albanian feudal lord and military commander who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in what is today Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serb ...

as a teenager where he worked his way through the youth ranks and joined the first team prior to the 2002–03 season, where the club was competing in the

Albanian Second 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 ...

, the third tier of Albanian football. He left the team after one season and joined

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

Tomori Berat Futboll Klub Tomori Berat is an Albanian football club based in the city of Berat. The club's home ground is the Tomori Stadium and they currently participate in the Kategoria e Dytë. History The sport of football was introduced to the city of ...

where he would stay for one year before leaving at the end of the season to join

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 Elbasani. Upon joining the club he became a key member of the squad and made 36 league appearances and scored twice to help the club finish as runners up in the league behind

. Following a decent second season with

, he was given offers from other clubs in Albania and abroad. Most notably two unnamed clubs from

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, both in the top flight. However he needed to talk to his manager and the owner of KF Tirana

Refik Halili Refik Halili is the chairman and main sponsor of KF Tirana. Since 2003, Halili had been one of the sponsors of the club. His duty as Chairman of KF Tirana started on May 29, 2008. He is a businessman and founder and owner of one of Albania's lead ...

to sort out his current contract with the club.

Teuta Durrës

On 23 July 2011 he joined

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 ...

on a one-year contract.

Vllaznia Shkodër

Osmani signed for Vllaznia Shkodër on 16 July 2012 and was presented to the media in the very same day. He was part of the team only in the first part of 2012–13 season, collecting 13 league matches and scoring one goal. Osmani left the club during the winter transfer window in controversial fashion.

Teuta Durrës return

In January 2013, he returned to Teuta Durrës for the second part of 2012–13 season. He made his return debut on 10 February in the matchday 14 against

Shkumbini Peqin Klubi i Futbollit Shkumbini Peqin is an Albanian football club based in the town of Peqin. The club's home ground is the Shkumbini Stadium and they compete in the Kategoria e Dytë. History Football was first introduced to the city of Peqin in t ...

, netting his side second goal in an eventual 3–0 home win.

Skënderbeu Korçë

On 29 May 2014, Osmani signed a one-year contract with his boyhood club

; he was presented along with Bernard Berisha, and was handed squad number 17. Shortly after, he traveled with the team in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

for the preparation phase ahead of

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tie against

BATE Borisov FC BATE Borisov (, ''FK BATE Borisov'' ; , ''BATE Barysaw,'' ), commonly referred to as BATE or BATE Borisov, is a Belarusian professional football team from the city of Barysaw. The club competes in the Belarusian Premier League, of which the ...

. Osmani was included in the

Mirel Josa Mirel Josa (born 1 June 1963) is an Albanian football coach and a former player. As a player, he played in the Greek Alpha Ethniki for Nea Kavala and Aris, as well as making 27 international appearances for the Albania national football team bet ...

's squad list. On 15 July, in the first leg of the second qualifying round, Osmani made an overall good performance, helping Skënderbeu Korçë to get a clean sheet at

Borisov Arena Borisov Arena (, ''Barysaw-Arena''; ) is a football-specific stadium in Barysaw, Belarus and is the home stadium of FC BATE Borisov and the Belarus national football team. The stadium's official capacity is 13,126. History The first official ga ...

. In the returning leg one week later, Osmani was again in the starting lineup, with Skënderbeu who didn't get more than a 1–1 draw at home, eliminated thus from the competition due to away goal rule. Osmani started the domestic season by winning his first silverware with the club, the

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 ...

, as Skënderbeu Korçë defeated

Flamurtari Vlorë Flamurtari Football Club is an Albanian professional football club based in Vlorë, Albania. The club plays in the Kategoria Superiore, which is the first tier of football in the country. Founded in 1923, the club is one of the oldest in Alba ...

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 ...

thanks to a Bakary Nimaga winner. On 23 February 2015, during the league match against Kukësi, Osmani suffered an injury and was substituted in the 15th minute for Leonit Abazi, with the match finishing 1–1. Following the match, it was reported that he had suffered a strain injury in his right thigh that kept him outside the field for one month. He returned in action on 13 April by playing the full-90 minutes during the 5–2 thrashing of

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 ...

Skënderbeu Stadium Skënderbeu Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Korçë, Albania. The ground is currently the home of KF Skënderbeu Korçë. It had capacity of 12,343, but after installing individual seats its number decreased to 5,800 seats. History Th ...

. On 8 July 2015, Osmani agreed a contract extension with Skënderbeu Korçë, signing a contract until June 2016. He renewed the contract in the airplane while he was traveling back to

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 ...

with the rest of the squad, becoming the first player in history to do so. During 2016–17 season, Osmani made 26 league appearances, including 5 cup appearances and one in

where the team was defeated by Kukësi. On 20 May 2017, during the decisive match against Kukësi for the championship, Osmani along with other teammates were included in a massive brawl with referee Enea Jorgji which sent him off for

unsportsmanlike conduct Unsportsmanlike conduct (also called untrustworthy behaviour, ungentlemanly fraudulent, bad sportsmanship, poor sportsmanship or anti fair-play) is a foul or offense in many sports that violates the sport's generally accepted rules of sportsmans ...

. Everything started in the 59th minute when the referee didn't give a clear penalty to Skënderbeu after a foul inside the zone on Liridon Latifi, instead booking him for diving. Skënderbeu eventually were defeated 2–0 at Zeqir Ymeri Stadium, meaning that they have failed to win the championship for the first time in six years. Disciplinary Committee of AFA handed him an eight-game ban for all domestic competitions.

Second Teuta Durrës return

On 4 August 2018, after weeks of speculation about his future, Osmani decided to return to Teuta Durrës by signing a one-year contract. The manager

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 ...

, who was also his former teammate at Skënderbeu and Partizani, decided to make Osmani the team captain for the 2018–19 season. Osmani begun the season on 19 August by playing full-90 minutes and helping the team get a clean-sheet in the goalless draw against

. Osmani left Teuta in July 2019 after his side was eliminated from

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla FC, Sevill ...

first qualifying round by

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Tirana return

On 20 July 2019, Tirana announced to have signed Osmani on a deal until 2020, with the player marking his return to the capital side for the first time since 2011.

International career

Osmani has represented Albania national team in 12 occasions, making his debut in a February 2005

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

match against

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. His final international was a June 2013 World Cup qualification match against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Style of play

Osmani main position is

. Since the beginning of 2017, under manager

Ilir Daja Ilir Daja (born 20 October 1966) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player. He is the current manager of Dinamo City. He has won the Albanian League as a coach with three clubs: Elbasani, Dinamo Tirana and Skënderbeu. He a ...

, Osmani begun utilised as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Elbasani *

: 2005–06 Tirana *

: 2008–09, 2019–20 *

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 ...

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 ...

Skënderbeu Korçë *

: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18 *

: 2017–18 *

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 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Osmani, Tefik 1985 births Living people Footballers from Korçë Albanian men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Albania men's international footballers Albania men's under-21 international footballers Albania men's youth international footballers KF Skënderbeu Korçë players FK Tomori Berat players KF Elbasani players FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia players FK Partizani Tirana players KF Tirana players KF Teuta players KF Vllaznia Shkodër players Kategoria e Parë players Kategoria Superiore players Ukrainian Premier League players Albanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Albanian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Albanian football managers KF Tirana managers Kategoria Superiore managers 21st-century Albanian sportsmen