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Brotherly derby

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Brotherly derby
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Brotherly derby (Albanian: Derbi vëllazëror), also known as the Brotherly (Albanian: Vëllazërorja) is the name given in football to any match between the men's national senior football teams of Albania and Kosovo.

Quick Facts Native name, Other names ...
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History

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First match

The first match between these two teams took place on 29 November 1942. It was a friendly match as part of the celebrations for the thirtieth anniversary of the independence of Albania. The match ended with a 2–0 win for Tirana,[a] and the starting line-ups of that match was:[2][3][1]

Albania
  • Halit Laçej (GK)
  • Ramazan Hima
  • Dik Qiriqi
  • Bajram Kurani
  • Muc Koxhja
  • Xhavit Demneri
  • Hasan Balla
  • Akil Derani
  • Zyber Lisi
  • Tas Bylyku
  • Ali Visha
Kosovo
  • Mustafa Daci (GK)
  • Ballanca
  • Ahmet Zaimi
  • Mazllum Xërxa
  • Veseli
  • Hajdar Hamza
  • Nebil Dylatahu
  • Ramadan Vraniqi
  • Dobrica Barbaroga[b]
  • Bajrami
  • Henci

Second match

50 years after the first match, the newly separated Football Federation of Kosovo from Football Association of Yugoslavia signed a cooperation protocol with the Albanian Football Association and in the framework of this protocol it was decided to play on 14 February a friendly match between these two national teams,[4] and this match ended with a 3–1 win for Albania.[5] The starting line-ups of that match was:

Albania
Kosovo

2002–2015

During the period 2002–2015, these national teams played a total of three friendly matches (two wins for Albania and a draw), the first match during this period took place on 7 September 2002 and this match ended with a 0–1 win for Albania.[6] Eight years later, respectively on the second anniversary of Kosovo's independence, a match was played again between these two national teams and this match ended with a 2–3 win for Albania. The profits gathered from the match went to those affected by floods in Shkodër.[7]

These national teams played a friendly match on 13 November 2015. Albania played this friendly after almost a month after beating Armenia in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying which provided Albania with qualification for the first time to a major competition, UEFA Euro 2016.[8] For Kosovo this match was among the few matches allowed by FIFA which would then be the last match before Kosovo's membership in UEFA,[9][10] and FIFA.[11] This match ended with a 2–2 draw,[12] which was called a brotherly draw,[13] where after this match officially all matches between the two national teams began to be called brotherly.

First official match

On 29 May 2018 the first official match was played between the two countries. This match took place on a neutral ground, in Letzigrund of Zürich. 18,700 fans mainly from the Albanian diaspora watched a 3–0 win for Kosovo, which was their first victory in history against Albania.[14]

'Unnecessary friendly'

On 28 October 2020, the Football Federation of Kosovo confirmed that a friendly match against Albania on 11 November would be played before the last two UEFA Nations League matches as a substitute for Albania's canceled match against Gibraltar.[15] However, this match was criticized as an "unnecessary friendly" by both managers Edoardo Reja[16] and Bernard Challandes,[17] as the match would be taking place at a crucial moment for both teams, with Albania needing to be prepared for their next two Nations League matches in order to secure the promotion from League B, while Kosovo was faced with a player shortage due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a poor Nations League performance which threatened to relegate the team from League D. Regardless, the friendly went ahead and ended with a 2–1 win for Albania.[18]

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Overall and matches

Overall

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Matches

29 November 1942 (1942-11-29) Friendly [a]Tirana  2–0 Kosovo Tirana, Albanian Kingdom
14:30 Visha 5'
Lisi 89'
Report Stadium: Shallvare
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: Abdurrahman Toptani (Albania)
14 February 1993 (1993-02-14) Friendly Albania  3–1  Kosovo Tirana, Albania
Abazi 38'
Seferi 39' (o.g.)
Fortuzi 42'
Report Munishi 72' Stadium: Selman Stërmasi Stadium
Attendance: 14,000
Referee: Bujar Pregja (Albania)
7 September 2002 (2002-09-07) Friendly Kosovo  0–1  Albania Pristina, Kosovo
Report
Report (RSSSF)
Abazi 45' (o.g.) Stadium: Pristina City Stadium
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Bekim Pakuja (Macedonia)
17 February 2010 (2010-02-17) Friendly Kosovo  2–3  Albania Pristina, Kosovo
Hasani 31'
Gashi 75'
Report (1st)
Report (2nd)
Bicaj 4'
Muzaka 31' (pen.)
Balaj 90+2'
Stadium: Pristina City Stadium
Attendance: 10,000
13 November 2015 (2015-11-13) Friendly Kosovo  2–2  Albania Pristina, Kosovo
14:00 (UTC+1) Celina 58' (pen.)
Rashani 69'
Report Manaj 54'
Rrahmani 73'
Stadium: Pristina City Stadium
Attendance: 38,000 (record)
Referee: Lorenc Jemini (Albania)
29 May 2018 (2018-05-29) Friendly Kosovo  3–0  Albania Zürich, Switzerland
20:00 (UTC+1) Zeneli 20', 51'
Zhegrova 67'
Report Stadium: Letzigrund
Attendance: 18,700
Referee: Alain Bieri (Switzerland)
11 November 2020 (2020-11-11) Friendly Albania  2–1  Kosovo Elbasan, Albania
16:00 (CET; UTC+01:00) Balaj 31'
Uzuni 65'
Report
Report (UEFA)
Muriqi 85' (pen.) Stadium: Elbasan Arena
Attendance: 0
Referee: Hüseyin Göçek (Turkey)
19 November 2022 (2022-11-19) Friendly Albania  Canceled[c]  Kosovo Germany or Switzerland
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Records

As of 11 November 2020

Below are two lists of the top 11 players with the most appearances and goals in Brotherly derby.
Players in bold are still active at international level.

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Players who played for both senior national teams

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During the period before 2016, these two national teams have exchanged players with each other, which influenced these two teams to be called reserve (B) teams of each other, Kosovo national team was called Albania B due to many players coming to play for Kosovo as they had no space to play for Albania, while Albania national team was called Kosovo B due to of the large number of players of Kosovo Albanian descent in its composition.[20] These exchanges began to be called acts of treason after Kosovo's membership in UEFA and FIFA, where some Albania players of Kosovo Albanian descent such as Amir Rrahmani, Herolind Shala and Milot Rashica who were part of the plans for the future of the Albania, moved to Kosovo.[21]

  • Players in bold are still active at international level with respective national teams.
  •   Career years when the players were gathered but did not debut with respective national teams.

Albania then Kosovo

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Besnik Hasi is the first player to switch from Albania to Kosovo
More information Player, Date of switch ...

Kosovo then Albania

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Debatik Curri is the first player to switch from Kosovo to Albania
More information Player, Date of switch ...
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See also

Notes

  1. The alternative name of the Albania national team that was used during this match.[1]
  2. Dobrica Barbaroga was the Albanianized full name of Dobrica Barbarogić by the media of that time, which seems to be expression of peaceful coexistence with national minorities even in Kosovo at that time.[2]
  3. The match was canceled due to lack of logistics as no suitable stadium was found to play the match.[19]
  4. Kastriot Dermaku is the second player after Debatik Curri to briefly change the national team from Albania to Kosovo and from Kosovo to Albania.[29]
  5. Gledi Mici is the first player born and raised in Albania to accept to play for Kosovo,[30] but could not make his debut as the club asked to release him from the squad in order to be as fresh as possible for the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League preliminary round matches.[31]
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References

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