The President of the Albanian Football Association, Armand Duka, was a guest this afternoon on the TV Klan show “Rudina”. In a different kind of interview, President Duka discussed the positive developments in Albanian football, including the organization of international events and the growth of infrastructure, while highlighting the importance of the sport for society as a whole.
The head of Albanian football spoke about the continuous progress of the national team and the pride this team brings to Albanians. He also shared the achievements of women’s football, emphasizing the commitment to increasing the number of children playing football and improving conditions for their development.
President Duka also mentioned the significance of events like the “Golden Ball 2024” in motivating and promoting Albanian football. Additionally, he talked about the national team’s mascot, “Alban”. Among other things, President Duka reflected on his personal experience in business and his transition into sports, as well as the emotions of his life as a grandfather to two grandchildren.
Football in Albanian through years – Beautiful and positive things have been accomplished, and good work continues. Football is the most beloved game in the world, and in Albania, even more so. It’s almost like a religion. This places even greater responsibility on us to offer as many positive developments as possible. Of course, being a game and a widely followed sport, football comes with its fair share of criticism. But we always strive to do our best for it.
Relationship with his grandchildren – I’m a grandfather, with two beautiful grandchildren, like all grandparents who find their grandchildren beautiful. I’m a grandfather through my daughter, Lori, while my son hasn’t had children yet. The feeling of being a grandfather is different from that of being a father. Maybe it’s because we’re more mature now than when we had our own children, back when we were perhaps a bit more ‘carefree.’ Now, we enjoy every moment with them immensely.
There’s a saying that grandchildren are the “honey of honey,” but to me, it feels like something even greater. I love them deeply, and I often miss them because they don’t live with me. I don’t know if I’m a good grandfather to them, but I do know they’re amazing grandchildren to me. I work hard to keep them connected to their roots and to everything related to their homeland since they live abroad.
Of course, they’ll become football fans, hopefully, they’ll even play the game. With football being discussed not just by me but also by their parents, I believe they’ll develop an interest in it. Whether they play professionally or just for fun, I’ll be incredibly happy either way.
Do You Recommend Football to Your Grandchildren?– Football is a beautiful thing. I absolutely recommend it to my grandchildren and to any parent for their child because it’s a form of education. If they become skilled professionals and build a sports career, that’s even better. But even just for their health and development, football is a fantastic way to teach children important life lessons.
Especially nowadays, when electronic games, phones, and computers take up so much of children’s time, providing them with a green field where they can play with friends and enjoy themselves is incredibly beneficial for their upbringing. If my grandchildren choose to follow this path, I’ll be very happy. Football is both health and education. And if it turns into a profession, it becomes an added value for the child and their family.
Is It Easy to Be a Good Footballer?– Football is a beautiful sport. Footballers possess unique and admirable qualities if you get to know them up close. The experience of being part of a team and working collectively helps them become more tolerant, better communicators.
Of course, football comes with its challenges, and reaching the highest levels requires sacrifice. At an age when peers might be going to clubs or enjoying nightlife, a footballer must give up those activities, maintain discipline, and stay committed to training. Football is both demanding and rewarding. But when you reach a high level, the benefits it brings make all the hard work worthwhile.
“Golden Ball” Gala Evening 2024 – We’ve been organizing this event for about three years now. Every community needs a final celebration to honor the activities it has undertaken throughout the year. We’ve organized evenings to celebrate the best of the year, and this year, in collaboration with Ardit Gjebrea, whom I’d like to thank, as this is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to meet him closely, he’s a true professional who has helped us a lot. We’re really good at organizing football matches and sports events. The entire AFA staff is truly excellent, but when it comes to creating spectacles, we’re not quite there yet.
So, Ardit, along with his team, helped us complete this vision. This year’s event was different from previous ones. It was much better organized, much more beautiful, and it really pleased our people. The goal of this activity was truly to thank those who contributed to the world of football throughout 2024. To motivate those who were chosen as the best and to serve as an inspiration for those who weren’t the best this year, to encourage them to fight for excellence next year.
And in the end, to promote our game and invite as many children as possible to join our sport, because this completes the picture. The feedback from our community has been very positive about this organization, and we will continue with this and make it even better and bigger. With more people and at a higher level. And to have winners and more promotion for the game. We want to show the world that we don’t just play football, we also create spectacles. Even our girls who play football, when we see them dressed in a dress, they are truly beautiful and wonderful.
Women’s football in Albania – It has changed a lot. We don’t have a long history in women’s football. We started late, in 2008, but now we have a large number of girls playing football. We have had positive results with the clubs and national teams, and we have a well-organized national championship.
We have achieved historic success so far with the Albanian champions, Vllaznia, who participated in the Champions League, facing opponents like Real Madrid, PSG, and Chelsea. It was a wonderful experience for the girls who took part. With the national team, we’ve had positive results in 2024, finishing first in the Nations League group. There have definitely been positive developments.
The objective for the entire football world is to bring women’s football to the same level as men’s football in every aspect: in terms of participation numbers, rewards, training conditions, and team organization. We are still far from reaching this goal, so there’s much work left to do.
We are focused on it and incentivizing it greatly. We provide more direct incentives for women’s football than for men’s because we believe men’s football is already established, while women’s football still needs support. We encourage the girls who play football, the teams, and cover their organizational expenses. I believe we are on the right path.
Jasir Asani’s Video Message – Jasir has left a significant mark and contribution in the European qualifiers. His goals were not only beautiful but also crucial for our qualification to the European Championship. Through him, I want to thank Jasir and all the guys.
I have thanked them, I continue to thank them, and I will keep thanking them for the rest of my life because they’ve given us emotions that cannot be experienced in any other way. You could be a businessman, have wealth, and do whatever you want, but the emotions they’ve given us, at least for me and many Albanians like me, cannot be felt in any other way. We have few events and moments that make us proudly say, “We are Albanian.”
In the 90s, most of us even hid our identity to avoid saying we were Albanian. Today, we say it with pride. A very important contribution to this pride has been the national team. Our participation in Euro 2016 and our confirmation in 2024 solidified this pride. So many flags, Albanians together with songs and dances from all Albanian territories, this has never happened before. For this reason, I want to thank the guys, the team, the entire AFA staff, and everyone who has contributed.
Alban, the mascot of the Albanian National Team -The idea for the mascot came about for the organization of the U-17 European Championship finals in our country. The opening match will be on May 19. To make the event as beautiful as possible, the idea of the mascot was introduced. The name was decided through a survey conducted among the entire Albanian fanbase. It was given the number 12, as it represents the 12th player, those who support the football team, the fans.
We have one of the best number 12s in the world because our fans have never spared any support for the team, regardless of the results. This level of support has been especially strong in recent years, as in the past, when we didn’t have positive results, the support was lacking. But now, the 12th player supports the team in every situation and event.
Alban is an eagle, our national symbol. It’s red and black, designed by an agency and later evaluated by a commission. It’s a beautiful symbol that delivers the message we want to give, to represent the 12th player on the field.
Alban will be present at our first national team match against Andorra on March 24 at the “Arena Kombëtare” stadium, as part of the World Cup qualifiers. Albani will also be there at the U-17 European Championship, which has its opening match on May 19 at the national stadium.
The draw will take place on March 31 at the “House of Football.” This is an important event for Albanian football because it’s the first time Albania will host a European Championship. The seven best teams in Europe, along with Albania as the host country, will participate in this event. It’s an important event for European football, but even more so for us. For a country like Albania, which has never hosted an event of this magnitude and doesn’t have the infrastructure to hold larger events, this is a significant milestone.
So, will the mascot be with the young footballers for several years? For this edition, it will certainly remain as it is. However, in the next edition, there could be a reconfiguration, while still staying aligned with the national symbols of Albania.
How much has Albanian football changed? – Actually, the period is long, and the developments have been significant. If I look back to my beginnings, the change is extraordinary. At that time, from every perspective, it was truly a modest association. We should be grateful that it existed, even though it was small. The change is remarkable.
Two days ago, we had a meeting, an analysis, and part of it included the then General Secretary, Sulejman Starova. I asked him: How many people were in the association at that time? He said 12. 12 people with a very modest budget, and today we are 180, with a budget more than 1000 times larger.
During this period, never before have international events been held in Albania. Just last year, we organized 13 European international events in Albania, each with 4 teams. So, over 30 European teams participated in these events. The same will happen in 2025. As a result of our experience, the trust of the European institution, and the position the Football Association holds within that institution, we have been entrusted with organizing the European Championship for U-17s in 2025 and the European Championship for U-21s in 2027.
These are roughly the changes that have occurred in Albanian football during this time, but to list them all, this program alone is not enough. This work continues, and not only in football, but in every field of life, the higher you go, the more difficult it becomes. The higher you set the bar, the harder it is to surpass it. Now, the challenges are even greater.
If during this period the steps of development were very large, because the reality was at a basic level, now, to make qualitative steps, it requires even more expertise, professionalism, and it is more difficult because we are trying to compete with the developed countries of Europe. Now, we are dissatisfied and have extraordinary criticism when we lose a match against Ukraine, whereas in the past, we were satisfied if we could grab a point.
Have the expectations grown? – Besides all our objectives, in my mind and that of the entire association staff, the main objective is to have as many people playing football as possible. To have as many people playing football, you need to create the conditions, and we have these conditions, perhaps better than many countries in the region. We have some things that maybe no association in the world has.
To a child who wants to play football, we provide everything, uniforms, balls, and even the training fields for younger ages, which we pay for to have as many children as possible in football, and this has given results, and we will continue to do so. With the objective to focus even more on girls, as I mentioned, to organize better, to change the infrastructure. If we look at a match from the year 2000, the difference is huge. We need an even bigger inventory, because if we increase the number of children, we need to increase the fields.
We are not very successful here, not due to a lack of support or funding. We have a project called ‘100 fields’ that finances even a private individual, club, or municipality that has a space. But these spaces are lacking, especially in the city of Tirana, where the population is very large. Just last year, we built 10 football fields, but even more are needed. To achieve this, you need an example, and the example is the players of the national team, whose results and the enjoyment of the national team’s game make children get closer to football.
I have a friend who emigrated to America, and both of his sons didn’t speak Albanian. I was very critical of him, asking how he could let his children not speak Albanian. They came to Germany to watch the National Team, and since the day they were in Germany, they started speaking Albanian and coming to Albania. This is what an important event, such as the European Championship and the National Team, can do.
Now we have an objective, and we want to do something big. We know that it’s difficult to qualify for the World Cup. We are facing England, the cradle of football, which is also in good form, we are facing Serbia, Latvia, Andorra, and why not, we will try. If we achieve this, we will all be very happy. The guys and all of football have set the bar there, and now it’s difficult to surpass it, but we will try.
Unceasing work, done year after year to get to where we are today… – Nothing comes by chance in life, those who think it does are wrong.
Video message from coach Sylvinho to the President – Silvio is the leader of the team and the success of 2024. He is a very correct and dedicated person. He is the coach who lives in Albania, unlike other foreign coaches we’ve had, and he works 24 hours a day. The result has not come by chance, for him, his staff, and us. We always dream about the World Cup, they are working hard for it, and I hope we achieve it.
Were you an economist in your early years?– Yes, and I still am. This sense, this kind of culture learned in school and work, has helped me because management must have an economic sense. My initiative in the ’90s was to start a business, I don’t know if being an economist had an influence. If I’m not the first in Albania, I’m among the top 10. I am the child of two teachers, and both my parents, in 1991, when I started doing this, and business back then was only buying and selling trade.
When I started getting into business, my mom got upset and told me: “You can’t do this, because you’re not a businessman, you buy cheap and sell expensive.” It was a shameful thing, because she called it business in a negative way. The first years were very difficult, and they got even harder in 1997. During those wars and battles, we grew up and perhaps got stronger, not just me, but everyone who took the initiative to start a business, because the ’90s were very hard.
In 1993, when we created Aiba and bought a state-owned company that produced livestock feed, it was the first state-owned company in Albania to be bought by a private individual. I, in fact, didn’t want to, my brother insisted on buying it, I was afraid, because I thought back to the year ’44 when people were forced to give up their money, and those who had businesses were tortured and imprisoned. But my brother pushed me, saying things have changed, and we are in a different order now, a capitalist one, and thank God it continued this way, and here we are.
How did you get involved with football?– My connection with football was exactly through business. We are a sporty family starting with my father, who was a football player and coach. My brother was a volleyball player for over 20 years with Erzeni. After he left volleyball, we sponsored and managed Erzeni’s volleyball team for a while. Later on, always for business reasons, we got closer to Erzeni and Teuta. I became part of the sports community.
The Football Association at that time, actually proposed to me by the former president of Vllaznia, my friend, who is no longer with us, Myftar Çela. He said, seeing my sense of management in business: why don’t you become the president of the Football Association? It’s not that I campaigned or struggled to become the president of football, because it was something easy, and almost no one wanted to do that job. I didn’t think at the time that it would be such a demanding role and that it would take so much time.
Now, when I meet someone else, I have friends of mine who become club presidents, like Gaz Demi, who took over Partizani. I told him that if you get into football, it’s hard to get out, because the emotions that football gives you are hard to find in other fields.
Since 2023, you’ve been the Vice-President of UEFA and Chairman of the Media Committee. But what about being the president of UEFA? – I don’t have the goal of becoming the president of UEFA. Albania has changed, its positioning in football in Europe has changed. In 2002, when I became the President of the Football Association, my colleagues there or the Executive Committee, I don’t know if they would have ever given me their hand. Today, the AFA is represented in UEFA by over 20 people in various committees.
Our referees manage matches in the group stages of the Conference League and Europa League, we have 5 delegates in Champions League matches, we have referee observers, and we also have the president as Vice-President of the European Football Association, UEFA. This is a good thing for Albania, I believe this dignified representation in the team, not just with the vice-president, not simply for the benefits we will receive, but with all the contributions, you gain experience and organize even better things.
A message for the youth – My message is for the parents: Trust them and encourage your children to play football. We are ready to do our best, we are experts, we have the conditions, we have very good projects. All it takes is your encouragement, the desire and passion of the children are not lacking, because everyone loves football, so we can raise healthier children physically.
