The Most Famous

SOCCER PLAYERS from Albania

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This page contains a list of the greatest Albanian Soccer Players. The pantheon dataset contains 21,273 Soccer Players, 22 of which were born in Albania. This makes Albania the birth place of the 75th most number of Soccer Players behind Panama, and Jamaica.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Albanian Soccer Players of all time. This list of famous Albanian Soccer Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Albanian Soccer Players.

Photo of Panajot Pano

1. Panajot Pano (1939 - 2010)

With an HPI of 52.56, Panajot Pano is the most famous Albanian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages on wikipedia.

Panajot Thoma Pano (Greek: Παναγιώτης Θωμάς Πάνου, romanized: Panayiotis Thomas Panou; 7 March 1939 – 19 January 2010) was an Albanian football player. He started his career as a goalkeeper in the 17 Nëntori Tirana youth academy, but later became the most prolific centre-forward of their arch-rivals, Partizani Tirana. During his eighteen-year career he played 24 matches as part of the Albania national team and was awarded the Albanian UEFA Jubilee Award. Due to his skills and abilities, Pano earned the nickname "The little Puskás" by sports commentators.

Photo of Erjon Bogdani

2. Erjon Bogdani (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 42.24, Erjon Bogdani is the 2nd most famous Albanian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Erjon Bogdani (born 14 April 1977) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player. He is nicknamed "Bogu" or "Er-Bomber". Regarded as one of the most successful Albanian players of all time, Bogdani began his career at Partizani Tirana in 1994 where he debuted at the age of 16. He left the club in January 1998 to sign with Gençlerbirliği. That summer, Bogdani moved in Croatia to play for Zagreb, before traveling to Italy where he enjoyed the best years of his career. Bogdani played in the following years in Serie A and B, representing Reggina, Salernitana, Verona, Siena, Chievo, Livorno and Cesena. He became a free agent in May 2013 after his contract with Siena ran out, and retired from the sport in February 2014. Bogdani has 74 caps for Albania national team, making his debut in 1996 and scoring his first goal three years later. With 18 goals, he is Albania's all-time top goalscorer, overtaking his former teammate Alban Bushi in 2011 by netting his 15th goal. He holds numerous Albanian records, including most goals as substitute and oldest goalscoring in history, and has been dubbed as the best striker to play for the Red and Black. Following his retirement, Bogdani was initially appointed by Albanian Football Association as a youth talents scouter, starting the job in September 2014. He began his managerial career by being named Gianni De Biasi assistant in August 2015. In December 2016, he was named manager of Albania under-19 team.

Photo of Altin Lala

3. Altin Lala (b. 1975)

With an HPI of 41.40, Altin Lala is the 3rd most famous Albanian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Altin Dodë Lala (born 18 November 1975) is an Albanian former professional footballer, who played as a defensive midfielder, and former manager. He spent his entire playing career in Germany and represented the Albania national team. He has also enjoyed a long international career, making 79 appearances for his country since 1998, the second highest in Albania's international history, being overtaken only by Lorik Cana in 2014. He debuted for Albania in January 1998 during a friendly match and then participated in the friendly tournament 2000 Rothmans, helping his team to win the tournament. He participated in overall seven qualifying tournaments of both UEFA European Championship and FIFA World Cup. He also scored three goals for his country. His first international goal came in March 2003 in a UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying match against Russia. Lala took over the captaincy of Albania national team in 2007, ever since Igli Tare was no longer capped by former manager Otto Baric during the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying. He led his team as a captain in the next qualifying tournaments of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2012 until 2011 before announcing his retirement from international football.

Photo of Igli Tare

4. Igli Tare (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 41.09, Igli Tare is the 4th most famous Albanian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Igli Tare (Albanian pronunciation: [ˈiɡli 'taɾɛ]; born 25 July 1973) is an Albanian retired professional footballer who played as a forward. He is the former sporting director at Serie A club Lazio. Tare joined Partizani Tirana as a 9-year-old in 1982, and would later go on to make his debut as a 15-year-old in 1988 before leaving Albania in 1992 to emigrate to Germany. He played in the lower leagues of Germany for Südwest Ludwigshafen and VfR Mannheim before joining Bundesliga side Karlsruher SC in 1996, initially playing for their reserve side before making his Bundesliga debut in 1996. He then joined Fortuna Düsseldorf in the 2. Bundesliga, where he scored 24 league goals in 63 games in two seasons before returning to the Bundesliga with 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 1999, where he netted four league goals in 26 appearances in one year and a half at the club. After falling out of favour at 1. FC Kaiserslautern he joined Serie A side Brescia in January 2001, where he helped the side finish in a respectable 8th place. He remained at Brescia for a further two seasons, and he scored a total of 15 league goals in 75 games before joining fellow Serie A side Bologna in 2003. He spent two years at the club and scored 11 league goals in 55 games, before joining Lazio in a surprise move in 2005 following Brescia's relegation to Serie B. He was primarily used as a backup player at Lazio and he only scored four goals in 54 league games before retiring as a player at the age of 34 in 2008.

Photo of Eduard Abazi

5. Eduard Abazi (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 37.82, Eduard Abazi is the 5th most famous Albanian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Eduard Abazaj (born 29 November 1963) is an Albanian-Portuguese retired international footballer who played as a left-back. His sons Richard Abazaj (born 2003) and Romeu Abazaj are also Luso-Albanian footballers.

Photo of Elseid Hysaj

6. Elseid Hysaj (b. 1994)

With an HPI of 36.91, Elseid Hysaj is the 6th most famous Albanian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Elseid Gëzim Hysaj (Albanian pronunciation: [ɛlsɛˈid ˈhysaj]; born 2 February 1994) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a full-back for Serie A club Lazio and the Albania national team.

Photo of Ansi Agolli

7. Ansi Agolli (b. 1982)

With an HPI of 36.23, Ansi Agolli is the 7th most famous Albanian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Ansi Agolli (born 11 October 1982) is an Albanian former professional footballer who captained the Albania national team. He played primarily as a left back or left midfielder, but he also operated as a right-back. Prior to March 2019, he was attached to Qarabağ in the Azerbaijan Premier League. He is the most decorated Albanian player in the history, winning 16 trophies, the first being the Albanian Superliga title in 2003–04 season.

Photo of Alban Bushi

8. Alban Bushi (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 36.00, Alban Bushi is the 8th most famous Albanian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Alban Bushi (born 20 August 1973) is an Albanian professional football coach and former player who is the manager of Albania under-21 and under-20 team. He is nicknamed "Loku". A forward, Bushi played for 12 different clubs in six different countries during his 19-year career. He started his career with capital club Tirana where he had an impressive goal-per-game ratio; he also had three short spells on loan with Szegedi in Hungary, FC Remscheid in Germany and Flamurtari Vlorë in Albania. He then went off to Greece to play for a short time at Apollon Smyrni. Following that he enjoyed a decent time at Litex Lovech before spending the next four years in Turkey by representing Adanaspor, İstanbulspor, and Trabzonspor. Bushi returned to Albania in summer of 2004 to play for one season with Partizani Tirana before returning to Greece, where he would spend the next five years at Levadiakos. At the end of his career, Bushi returned to Albania once again to represent Tirana, stating that it was a "moral debt" to end his career where it started. He retired from football in November 2010. Bushi also had a successful international career, being part of Albania national team for 12 years. With 14 goals, he was Albania's all-time leading top scorer from 2004 until Erjon Bogdani overtook him in 2011. He retired from international football in 2007.

Photo of Panagiotis Kone

9. Panagiotis Kone (b. 1987)

With an HPI of 35.98, Panagiotis Kone is the 9th most famous Albanian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Panagiotis Kone (Greek: Παναγιώτης Κονέ, born 26 July 1987) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Kone started playing football in the youth ranks of Olympiacos, from where he moved to Lens' youth team. He started professional football in AEK Athens before moving to Iraklis in 2008. After two seasons with the club, Kone moved to Serie A club Brescia. After one season in Brescia, he moved to Bologna in 2011 on loan, then transferred permanently to the club in 2012. He then signed for Udinese in 2014. After loan spells with Fiorentina, Granada and AEK Athens, Kone left Udinese in August 2018. Kone represented Greece at various youth levels before making his senior debut in 2010. He was a member of the Greece squad that played in the 2014 World Cup.

Photo of Klodian Duro

10. Klodian Duro (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 35.89, Klodian Duro is the 10th most famous Albanian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Klodian Duro (Albanian pronunciation: [klɔ'dian 'duɾɔ]; born 21 December 1977) is an Albanian retired professional football and current coach of Gjilani of the Superliga e Kosoves. He was a versatile midfielder who usually played in an attacking role. His brother Albert Duro was also a footballer. Duro played as an attacking midfielder for 11 different clubs in 5 countries during a career spanning 17 years, where he won 4 Albanian Superliga titles, 3 Albanian Cups, 3 Albanian Supercups and a Cypriot Cup. He made his senior international debut in 2001, and he earned 77 caps and scored 6 goals before retiring from international football in 2011. He became the manager of Kukësi on 24 November 2015, and he won the Albanian Cup in his first season in charge.

People

Pantheon has 33 people classified as Albanian soccer players born between 1939 and 2002. Of these 33, 32 (96.97%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Albanian soccer players include Erjon Bogdani, Altin Lala, and Igli Tare. The most famous deceased Albanian soccer players include Panajot Pano. As of April 2024, 5 new Albanian soccer players have been added to Pantheon including Eduard Abazi, Kristjan Asllani, and Myrto Uzuni.

Living Albanian Soccer Players

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Deceased Albanian Soccer Players

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Newly Added Albanian Soccer Players (2024)

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