2009–10 KF Tirana season

Tirana
2009–10 season
President	Refik Halili
Head coach	Ilija Lončarević; (until 6 October 2009); Alban Tafaj ; (caretaker manager); Nevil Dede; (until 9 February 2010); Devi Muka ; (caretaker manager); Luan Sengla ; (caretaker manager); Sulejman Starova
Stadium	Selman Stërmasi Stadium; Qemal Stafa Stadium
Kategoria Superiore	3rd
Albanian Cup	Quarter-finals
Albanian Supercup	Winners
Champions League	2nd Qualifying Round
Top goalscorer	League: ; Gjergji Muzaka (10); All: ; Gjergji Muzaka (10)
	← 2008–09 2010–11 →

The 2009–10 season was Klubi i Futbollit Tirana's 71st competitive season, 71st consecutive season in the Kategoria Superiore and 89th year in existence as a football club. Following the title win the previous season, KF Tirana added to their 22 titles to make it their record 23 title wins. As the club were the league winners they were Albania's only team to play in the Champions League which was against Norwegian side Stabæk IF.

Background

Kit

Supplier: Lotto Sport Italia
Sponsor: Halili S.h.pk

Other information

President	Refik Halili
Ground (capacity and dimensions)	Selman Stërmasi stadium (12, 500 / 105m x 68m)

Source: Selman Stërmasi stadium

Players

Squad information

N	Pos.	Name	Age	Since	App	Goals	Ends	Transfer fee
1	GK	Nallbani	53	2004	86	1	2010	$1 million
12	GK	Korunovski	42	2008	5	0	2010	undisclosed
31	GK	Kuka	34	2007	1	0	2011	Youth system
3	DF	Dabulla	45	2008	25	0	2010	undisclosed
19	DF	Osmani	39	2008	24	0	2010	€40,000
5	DF	Pashaj	40	2008	4	0	2010	undisclosed
16	DF	Abraham	38	2008	60	0	2010	$160,000
6	DF	Lila	38	2008	30	4	2010	undisclosed
4	MF	Mohellebi	40	2009	0	0	2011	€100,000
14	MF	Devolli	46	2008	31	2	2010	Free
23	MF	Lilaj	35	2008	21	1	2011	Youth system
13	MF	Patushi	48	2009 (Winter)	15	0	2010	Free
8	MF	Sefa	37	2005	75	6	2010	Youth system
27	MF	Tusha	34	2008	3	0	2010	Youth system
10	MF	Mukaj	47	2002	159	50	2010	undisclosed
17	MF	Muzaka	40	2008	30	3	2010	€100,000
7	MF	Hajdari	34	2007	10	0	2011	Youth system
20	FW	Abilaliaj	38	2009	2	1	2011	Free
9	FW	Ferra	35	2008	2	0	2011	Youth system
15	FW	Memelli	44	2008	29	22	2009	undisclosed
11	FW	Sorra	35	2007	5	1	2011	Youth system
18	FW	Rica	34	2009	0	0	2010	Youth system
?	DF	Bicaj	35	2009	0	0	2011	undisclosed
?	DF	Ahmataj	45	2009	1	0	2010	Free
?	DF	Dede	48	2009	0	0	2010	Free
?	DF	Sina	46	2009	0	0	2010	undisclosed
?	DF	Sinanaj	38	2009	0	0	2010	undisclosed
?	MF	Karabeci	37	2009	0	0	2010	Free
?	FW	Çeliku	37	2006	0	0	2010	Youth system
?	FW	Malindi	36	2009	0	0	2010	undisclosed

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Pre-season friendlies

Ohrid, Macedonia

Tirana's president Refik Halili chose not to reveal where the club would be holding their re-season training camp ahead of the club's appearance in the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League until he named the manager and the players had signed new contracts at the club. The two possibilities were either Ohrid in Macedonia or southern Turkey. After winning the 2008–09 Albanian Superliga the players received a three-week break ahead of the new season.^[1] It was announced that the team would be traveling to Oher, Macedonia instead of Turkey for their pre-season training camp on June 24, 2009, this was announced before Halili had signed a new coach which was not expected.^[2] The club along with new coach Ilija Lončarević traveled to Ohrid in western Macedonia for their pre-season training on June 28, 2009, which was four days after previously expected, the club left Tirana at 16:15 local time. The squad along with the staff planned to stay in Macedonia for nine days and had planned to three friendlies against Macedonian sides during their stay there.^[3] The club planned to stay at the 'Mizo' hotel in Oher for the duration of their trip.^[4] The club's first game was planned in Oher against local side FK Karaorman of Struga, however due to heavy rainfall the match was called off, it was due to be staged at a small stadium close to where Tirana was training, however it was expected for the friendly to be staged the next day depending on the weather.^[5] Tirana played their first game of the pre-season against Albanian-Macedonian side KF Vllaznimi on July 1, 2009, this match gave a chance for new coach Lončarević to try out the squad for the very first time and to see the younger and fringe players of the side as well. The 1st preseason game proved to be a success for the champions of Albania and the coach as Tirana won comfortably 6–0 against the Macedonian side. Besa Kavaje bound striker scored 2 goals, the captain Devis Mukaj netted once, as did Jetmir Sefa, Ergys Sorra and new signing Arbër Abilaliaj.^[6] Three days later the club faced their biggest test of the stay in Oher, FK Teteks. The match was played on July 4, 2009 and the scores ended 1–1 with both teams creating chances but neither able to in the end.^[7] Tirana then played local a Struga side who they beat 3–1 with mostly young players and also a Macedonian League selection team on July 6, 2009 who they beat comfortably 6–0, the second time they beat a team with this same scoreline after their first game against KF Vllaznimi. The goals came from doubles from both captain Devis Mukaj and midfielder Gjergji Muzaka and the rest came from Daniel Xhafa and Arbër Abilaliaj.^[8] The team and staff left Macedonia for Tirana on July 7, 2009 after they had finished their last dinner in Macedonia. The club had spent a week and a half in Macedonia and had played 4 friendlies against teams from different levels of football, this gave Lončarević the chance to see his players for the first time since taking on the job at Tirana and to witness some of his younger players. In total Tirana played 4 friendlies in Ohrid, winning 3 of them and drawing just one which was seen as a positive result out of Macedonia ahead of the club's Champions League games and the Albanian Supercup.^[9]

Total Games

1 July 2009 Friendly	Vllaznimi	0–6	Tirana	Ohrid, Macedonia
			Xhafa Muka Sefa Sorra Abilaliaj	Stadium: SRC Biljanini Izvori

? July 2009 Friendly	Karaorman	1–3	Tirana	Ohrid, Macedonia
				Stadium: SRC Biljanini Izvori

4 July 2009 Friendly	Teteks	1–1	Tirana	Ohrid, Macedonia
		Report		Stadium: SRC Biljanini Izvori

6 July 2009 Friendly	Selection	0–6	Tirana	Ohrid, Macedonia
			Mukaj Muzaka Xhafa Abilaliaj	Stadium: SRC Biljanini Izvori

? July 2009 Friendly

Tirana

5–1

Kamza

Tiranë, Albania

25 July 2009 Friendly	Tirana	4–1	Olimpiku	Tiranë, Albania
	Lila Xhafa Ferra Abilaliaj	Report

28 July 2009 Friendly	Tirana	5–1	KF Tirana U-19	Tiranë, Albania
	Sefa Mukaj (p) Hajdari (p) Ferra Abilaliaj	Report

6 August 2009 Friendly	Tirana	1–1	Partizani	Tiranë, Albania
	Lila 21' (pen.)	Report

9 August 2009 Friendly	Tirana	1–3	Kastrioti	Tiranë, Albania
	Lila 40'	Report

10 August 2009 Majaci Cup	Apolonia	0–1	Tirana	Fier, Albania
			Malindi 38'	Stadium: Abdurrahman Roza Haxhiu Stadium

10 August 2009 Majaci Cup	Apolonia	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–5 p)	Tirana	Fier, Albania
			Abilaliaj 18'	Stadium: Abdurrahman Roza Haxhiu Stadium

Competitions

Albanian Supercup

As 2008–09 Albanian Superliga champions Tirana kicked off the domestic 2009–10 season with the annual Albanian Supercup on August 16, 2009, where they played the 2008–09 Albanian Cup winners Flamurtari. The match was played at the Qemal Stafa Stadium with only a few thousand fans showing up from the start of the game. Tirana were forced to play an unusual line-up due to injury to some of their main players like inspirational leader Devis Mukaj and goal-machine Migen Memelli. Tirana started the game with just Arbër Abilaliaj up front with youngster Blerti Hajdari playing just behind the striker. The fans providing the atmosphere inside the stadium as always were the 'Tirona Fanatics', another notable fan was former chairman of KF Tirana and the president of Albania, Bamir Topi who had taken up his normal place in the V.I.P section of the stadium. The match itself started very slowly with very few chances to shout about until the second half when Tirana whipped in a corner and after confusion in the box former Flamurtari player Arbër Abilaliaj managed to scramble the ball into the back of the net on the 72nd minute mark. This proved to be the only goal in the game.^{[citation needed]}

16 August 2009 Final	Tirana	1–0	Flamurtari Vlorë	Tiranë
20:30 CET	Abilaliaj 72'	Report		Stadium: Qemal Stafa Stadium Attendance: 300 Referee: Albano Janku

Kategoria Superiore

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dinamo Tirana (C)	33	19	4	10	56	42	+14	61	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Besa	33	15	8	10	42	33	+9	53	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round^[a]
3	Tirana	33	15	7	11	38	32	+6	52	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
4	Laçi	33	14	9	10	35	28	+7	51	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
5	Flamurtari	33	13	8	12	42	39	+3	47

Source: Albanian Football Association (in Albanian), Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) points in head-to-head matches; 3) goal difference in head-to-head matches; 4) goals scored in head-to-head matches; 5) total goal difference; 6) total goals scored; 7) draw
(C) Champions
Notes:

^ Besa qualified for the Europa League second qualifying round by winning the 2009–10 Albanian Cup.

Results summary


Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
33	15	7	11	38	32	+6	52	8	3	6	22	17	+5	7	4	5	16	15	+1

Last updated: 19 May 2010.
Source: Competitive matches

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33
Ground	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A
Result	L	W	W	D	L	D	L	W	W	W	L	W	D	D	D	W	W	L	W	L	L	W	L	L	L	W	W	W	L	W	D	W	D
Position	9	5	4	4	6	6	6	5	5	4	4	4	4	3	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	3	2	4	3	4	4	3

Source: Competitive matches
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Albanian Cup

First round

21 October 2009 First leg	Luzi 2008	3–1	Tirana	Luz i Vogël
				Stadium: Luz i Vogël Stadium

4 November 2009 Second leg	Tirana	3–0 (4–3 agg.)	Luzi 2008	Tiranë
				Stadium: Selman Stërmasi Stadium

Second round

25 November 2009 First leg	Lushnja	2–2	Tirana	Lushnje
14:00 CET	Bizhytit 46' E. Çela 90+4'		Memelli 27' Abilaliaj 35'	Stadium: Abdurrahman Roza Haxhiu Stadium

9 December 2009 Second leg	Tirana	2–1 (4–3 agg.)	Lushnja	Tiranë
13:00 CET	Ahmataj 22' Sina 81'		Arbëri 90+2'	Stadium: Selman Stërmasi Stadium

Quarter-finals

10 February 2010 First leg	Besa	2–0	Tirana	Kavajë
13:30 CET	Mançaku 11' (pen.) Xhafa 78'	Report		Stadium: Besa Stadium

24 February 2010 Second leg	Tirana	4–2 (4–4a agg.)	Besa	Tiranë
13:30 CET	Ahmataj 47', 68' Plaku 49' Lila 51' (pen.)	Report	Mançaku 72' (pen.) Xhafa 80'	Stadium: Qemal Stafa Stadium

UEFA Champions League

Second qualifying round

15 July 2009 First leg	Tirana	1–1	Stabæk	Tiranë, Albania
20:00 CET	Mukaj 50'	Report	Kobayashi 34'	Stadium: Qemal Stafa Stadium Attendance: 3,500 Referee: Robert Schörgenhofer (Austria)

21 July 2009 Second leg	Stabæk	4–0 (5–1 agg.)	Tirana	Bærum, Norway
20:45 CET	Segerström 15', 17' Berglund 44' Farnerud 55'	Report		Stadium: Telenor Arena Attendance: 4,783 Referee: Thorsten Kinhöfer (Germany)

Statistics

Squad statistics

No.	Pos.	Name	League		Albanian Cup		Europe		Supercup		Total		Discipline
No.	Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Blendi Nallbani	2	1	0	0	2	0	1	0	5	1	0	0
3	DF	Rezart Dabulla	2	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	5	0	2	0
4	MF	Laurent Mohellebi	2	0	0	0	2(2)	0	1	0	5(2)	0	1	1
5	DF	Entonio Pashaj	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	4	0	1	0
6	DF	Andi Lila	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	4	0	2	1
7	MF	Blerti Hajdari	1	0	0	0	1(1)	0	1	0	3(1)	0	0	0
8	MF	Jetmir Sefa	2	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	5	0	0	0
9	FW	Hendrit Ferra	1(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1(1)	0	0	0
10	FW	Devis Mukaj	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	0
11	FW	Ergys Sorra	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
12	GK	Pece Korunovski	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
13	MF	Sajmir Patushi	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
14	MF	Bledar Devolli	2	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	5	0	2	0
15	FW	Migen Memelli	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
16	DF	Abraham Alechenwu	2	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	5	0	0	0
17	MF	Gjergji Muzaka	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
18	FW	Erand Rica	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
19	DF	Tefik Osmani	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	4	0	1	0
20	FW	Arbër Abilaliaj	2	1	0	0	2(2)	0	1	1	5	2	2	0
23	MF	Sabien Lila	2	0	0	0	2	0	1(1)	0	5(1)	0	0	0
27	MF	Gerald Tusha	1(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1(1)	0	0	0
31	GK	Klajdi Kuka	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

References

^ Tirana prepare for new pre-season^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albanian)
^ Pre-season in Oher confirmed^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albanian)
^ Tirana travels to Ohrid^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albanian)
^ Tirana arrive in Ohrid^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albanian)
^ Friendly postponed^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albanian)
^ Tirana 6–0 Vllaznimi^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albanian)
^ Teteks 1–1 Tirana Archived October 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine (in Macedonian)
^ Tirana 6–0 Selection^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albanian)
^ Tirana leave Oher^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albania)

[table_note_res_ELC0.99106758459987-10] Besa qualified for the Europa League second qualifying round by winning the 2009–10 Albanian Cup.

[1] Tirana prepare for new pre-season^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albanian)

[2] Pre-season in Oher confirmed^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albanian)

[3] Tirana travels to Ohrid^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albanian)

[4] Tirana arrive in Ohrid^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albanian)

[5] Friendly postponed^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albanian)

[6] Tirana 6–0 Vllaznimi^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albanian)

[7] Teteks 1–1 Tirana Archived October 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine (in Macedonian)

[8] Tirana 6–0 Selection^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albanian)

[9] Tirana leave Oher^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Albania)

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[a]