The President of the Albanian Football Association, Armand Duka received the President of the English Football Association, Greg Clarcke, who is conducting an official visit in Albania.
Thanking President Duka for the warm welcome, Mr. Clarke expressed his impression for the progress of Albanian football in the last decade and expressed the support that the institution he heads will give for Albania. ‘’ I am impressed by the progress of Albanian football in the last decade. A great job and great achievements have been made by a small country such as Albania. We will lobby hard and incite UEFA or FIFA in order to contribute more for developing countries. We will closely cooperate together to achieve successes in the future. We are here to give the support of the English Football Association and to help in every step of yours, to share our experience in the unstoppable process of growing’’, stressed Mr. Clarke in the official meeting held in the premises of Albanian Football Association.
President Duka introduced his English homologue with the developments that occurred in Albanian football in the last decade, the achievements and the objectives for the future. ‘’ It is a real pleasure for us having you here. It is the first time that a President of the English Football Association visits Albania. Football is number one sport in our country and this attribute make us glad but also increases responsibilities. In the last decade, Albanian football had its ups and downs. We praise the huge support that FIFA and UEFA have given us, without their help we wouldn’t have achieved what we have done today. 5 years ago we didn’t have a stadium for international matches and today we have two. ‘’National Arena’’ is under construction and we are starting another project in Kukës. We have invested in infrastructure everywhere in Albania, always having in mind the marginalized communities. Women’s football in Albania was created 10 years ago and now we have managed to create U-17, U-19 national teams and proudly represented by A team. One of our priorities was the creation of the School of Coaches, and years after building this institution we managed to qualify and license hundreds of coaches in all levels, and lately AFA is giving the UEFA Pro license. I would like to ask for your expert’s assistance in gaining experience in managing football clubs’’, declared Armand Duka.
The visit continued at the House of Football and afterwards at ‘’National Arena’’ stadium, where the President of the English Football Association expressed his support the candidacy of President Duka at the Executive Committee of UEFA.
