Albanian football story with a South American flavor

Silvinja, Brazilian - former Barcelona and Arsenal player. Pablo Zabaleta - Argentinian, ex-captain of Manchester City. They were joined by Albania.

And they created a team that, in competition with the favorites of the Czech Republic and Poland, as well as Moldova and the Faroe Islands, won first place in the group and impressively advanced to the European Championship, for the second time in history - after 2016.

The Albanian story is one of the most impressive in the qualifications for the 2024 European Championship.

"I am proud to be the coach of Albania", said an elated Silvinho after the draw with Moldova (1:1), which promoted the Albanians to the biggest miracle of the cycle for Germany.

"I will just continue to follow the huge passion these people here have for football."

Silvinho had coaching experience from Lyon and Corinthians, while Pablo Zabaleta as his assistant made his debut on the bench... Their ambitions coincided, as did their plan for the players to follow.

“I think the relationship we created with the players was the key. Another factor is the quality of the players, which is very high. But the most important thing is that those players had a huge team spirit and a big heart. Without it, there is no success. You can be a great player, you can be a team player, but if you don't have unity in the team - you can't do anything. Football is a complex game, the individual is important, but not the most important. The boys understood that", said Silvinho".

21

year Albanians have only foreigners on the selection bench. It started with the German Hans-Peter Bruegel, continued with the Croats Oto Barić and Josip Kuže and the Dutch Ari Han, through the Italian Gianni de Biasi, Cristian Panucci and Eduardo Reja, all the way to the Brazilian Silvinho and the Argentine Zabaleta, who in tandem led the national team to the EP

We wanted to build a team that would play good football. In fact, the football that Silvinho and I played during our careers. To be honest, we played at the highest level, and in the players we had, we saw the potential to follow our path. I think we succeeded, Albania is a very good team, very good", said Zabaleta.

Albanians have an interesting "preset" - in the last 20 years, the selectors have been exclusively foreigners!

Since 21 years ago the Italian succeeded Giuseppe Dossena Suleiman Demorali, the local coach led the Albanians in one single match, in March 2019, when Ervin Bulk was a temporary solution.

From a German by Hans-Peter Bruegel, who was a selector for three years, through Croats Ota Barić and Josip Kuže and the Dutchman Aria Hana, the Albanians finally got lucky with the Italian Gianija de Biazio, who took them to the 2016 European Championship.

Cooperation with Christian Panucci i Eduardo Rey, also to the Italians, in the previous two cycles it was not quite so successful, and then the leaders of the Alliance with Silvinha and Zabaleta hit the center.

After an exceptional qualifying campaign, in which they beat both the Poles and the Czechs at home (3:0 and 2:0 respectively), and suffered their only defeat in the qualifiers in Poland, Albania is eagerly awaiting the group draw for the championship, which will be held next summer in Germany.

“Definitely, we can do something. In tournaments like this, the composition of the group is important, and on the field, the passion with which the team plays. We believe in what we are doing, and we believe that we have something to show," said Silvinho.

"There are many big teams at the Euro, with big coaches. But we are not afraid. We are a good team. We will give 100 percent in every match, we have that spirit. We will pass on what we have shown so far, we will see if it will be enough to win".

The group draw for the European Championship will take place on December 2 in Hamburg. Albania is waiting for him from the second hat, and let's say - defending champion Italy from the fourth.