President of AFA, Armand Duka, was a guest on Wednesday evening’s “Opinion” show on Tv Klan, where he gave an interview with journalist Blendi Fevziu ahead of the highly anticipated Albania–Serbia match.
During the interview, President Duka spoke about preparations, objectives, the extraordinary interest of fans, and the importance of this match within the framework of Albania’s major goal of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Also, President Duka shared details about the U-21 European Championship that will take place in 2027 in Albania and Serbia, and he praised the organizational success of the U-17 European Championship, which was held for the first time in our country in cooperation with UEFA.
After the interview, the show “Opinion” also aired the documentary “Albania in the 2024 European Championship!”, which reflects the historic journey of the Albanian national team towards Germany.
Below is President Duka’s interview for the “Opinion” show:
The match with Serbia?
—I cannot hide it. It is a match full of emotion and tension. I don’t think it is just because of the incident that happened in Belgrade. There is a lot of pressure and emotion. We try very much to de-dramatize the situation inside the team. With words, we all understand; me, the coach, the staff, the players, that this is a football match. Sylvinho knows the history of Albania, he knows the mentality of Albanians. He lives with this mentality. He has also read and talked with us all this time. He experiences it in some way, maybe not the same as us, maybe not the same as players of Kosovan origin, but he knows the reality.
Is Serbia our rival for second place in the group?
—That is the main thing. We should not overburden the situation. We want the whole interest of Albanians inside and outside the stadium to be to help the team, to push them towards victory.
Condition of the team?
—We have had Manaj in poor condition in the last two days, but I believe by Saturday everyone will be available to the coach to play. I hope it continues like this until Saturday.
Are the team’s management calm before this match?
—It is not very easy to be calm in such a match. I hope that by the time the match starts, calm returns and we get the maximum that our team can give. Returning to the current match with Serbia; it is an important match for the sporting objective. Also for all those who support and love the National Team, this is how they should support it, that we have an objective and hope to reach the “Play-Off”, because first place in this group is very difficult and almost impossible. The chances to get second place are between us and Serbia, and this makes this match more of a sports derby. It is really a difficult match as a football match, aside from the other pressures.
Serbia’s team?
—Serbia has quality, sporting tradition, a good football school, good individuals, and that makes us think we have chances to get a result, because we think we have a more compact team, more connected with the jersey, and the interest in the stands is much greater than in Serbia. These make us think that we can get a positive result just by finding emotional balance and giving everything on the field.
Message for the players?
—I have given it to them and I don’t want to bother them anymore until match day. This match, according to me and I believe I have the right experience, does not need motivation. The players are very motivated, they need to find balance and have maximum commitment and motivation to get the maximum. Same thing for the coach. I told him we have to prepare and live it as a football match, against a quality opponent, that we want to take the win and second place.
More difficult match in Tirana or Belgrade?
—I think it is more difficult here. The biggest pressure is here, because outside the field it is a bit different and actually, experience has shown that outside the field we have played good matches. It has not yet been decided where the away match with Serbia will be played, but it is very likely it will not be played in Belgrade, but in another stadium with smaller dimensions.
Have you spoken with the President of the Serbian Football Federation?
—We met recently at the Champions League final. The President of the Serbian Federation is Dragan Džajić, a great former footballer. He has respect for Albanian football, not only for today’s football but for the whole history of Albanian football. In fact, in the last meeting, we remembered the draw of Albania with Germany which favored Yugoslavia to qualify in 1967.
Comment on the Serbian President’s call for victory in Tirana?
—It is a sensitive match. Football is very important and politics wants to use it. In this case, Vučić was at a rally and wanted to use the figure of the Serbian coach and the sensitivity of the match to gain political benefits.
Ticket demand for the match with Serbia?
—Extraordinary demand. The organization of the match is very demanding. A week ago, they told me there were more than 200,000 applications. I don’t know if that’s the last count, maybe there are more. Distribution by lottery is random, the system is not used only by us, it is international. UEFA and FIFA also use it. We have not had tickets dedicated to anyone. Dedicated tickets were only for those with contractual relationships with the Federation: sponsors, scouts, media, etc. We considered this the best policy to give equal chances for everyone to be in the stadium. Everyone should have equal chances to be in the stadium. This of course has caused some dissatisfaction because in the past we have given some groups grouped tickets. Now we have decided that, like all other European Federations, we will distribute equally to all, because in the end, we consider that all who come to the stadium are a group supporting the National Team.
Message to fans for the Albania–Serbia match?
—From the public, we expect support for the team with enthusiasm and “Fair Play” in the stands, correctly and sportingly. I hope they enjoy the match with a positive result. It will be very bad if we lose, but we must know how to live both when we lose and when we win. That’s football. This match has so much pressure that I would want the win just as much as the World Cup qualification. The message is really to live it as a football match. Not to see it as a war. Qualification for the World Cup is a very difficult journey starting from the draw. If we look back, if it was the same draw as in the European Championship, we ranked first and would be at the World Cup. Now it is England. It is difficult to beat England, since they have never made mistakes in qualifiers, only in finals. First places qualify directly, while second place goes to the “play-off”. There are 12 teams in the “play-off” to get 4 teams through. The path is difficult, but not impossible.
Euro U-21 2027?
—It is UEFA’s second most important competition. The participating teams are 16. 8 will play in Albania and 8 in Serbia. It will be played in 4 stadiums in Albania and the final will be played at the “National Arena” in Tirana. The stadiums we applied with are “National Arena”, “Elbasan Arena”, “Loro Boriçi”, and “Arena Egnatia”. But if we build some stadium, since we have some projects, we might make some small changes. Even Partizani’s “Arena e Demave” could be adopted to host U-21 European matches. Today it has artificial turf and cannot be played there. In our project, in cooperation with Partizani club, the plan is to change the pitch to natural. It is planned as a reserve stadium. I don’t believe the stadium in Durrës or “Selman Stërmasi” can be reached.
Our team will play in Albania and the Serbian team in Serbia. The only chance to face each other is in the semi-final or final. Two groups will play here and two groups in Serbia.
European U-17 Championship “Albania 2025”, how was the organization of this competition?
—It was a very good, very successful experience. During these days, we received thanks and congratulations from all participating Federations and their staff opinions about the experience they had in Albania. Although Germany was unlucky not to advance from the group, yesterday we received their thanks for the organization and everything else. Michael Ballack was in Elbasan. There were many figures and scouts following the European Championship. The European Championship held in Albania is the second most attended in UEFA history. The average attendance in the stadium stands was 4500 spectators. The record is in a championship held in Germany, with 5600 spectators per match. With participation, organization, infrastructure, hotel services and training fields, everything was good.
