AF Elbasani
Albanian football club
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AF Elbasani (Albanian: Akademia e Futbollit Elbasani), is an Albanian professional football club based in Elbasan. The club competes in Kategoria Superiore, the top tier of Albanian football. Their home ground is Elbasan Arena.
| Full name | Akademia e Futbollit Elbasani | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Tigrat | ||
| Founded | 2 August 2021 | ||
| Stadium | Elbasan Arena | ||
| Capacity | 12,800 | ||
| Owner | Bashkia Elbasan | ||
| President | Kujtim Llupa | ||
| Manager | Ivan Gvozdenović | ||
| League | Kategoria Superiore | ||
| 2024–25 | Kategoria Superiore, 5th | ||
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History
In 2021, the club was formed by the Elbasan Municipality after the disagreements with businessman Arben Laze who was the owner of the first football club KF Elbasani. Due to financial bankruptcy, Elbasani was seized by the Directorate of Taxes in Elbasan. So with the initiative of the fans they found the way and with the cooperation of Elbasan Municipality, AF Elbasani was created.[1]
In the 2021–22 season, they competed in the fourth tier of Albanian football, Kategoria e Tretë. In their first season, they achieved first place, gaining promotion to Kategoria e Dytë.[2]
In the 2022–23 season, AF Elbasani finished first in the Group B of the Kategoria e Dytë, which gained them promotion for the first time to the Kategoria e Parë.[3] In their first season, they finished in 1st place, and were crowned champions and were promoted to the Kategoria Superiore.[4]
In the 2024–25 season, they narrowly missed out on qualifying to the final four, by finishing 5th on 50 points, 3 points behind Partizani.
Honours
- Kategoria e Parë
- Champions (1): 2023–24
- Kategoria e Tretë
- Champions (1): 2021-22
Recent seasons
| Season | Division | Pos. | Pl. | W | D | L | GS | GA | P | Cup | Supercup | Europe | Top Scorer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–22 | Kategoria e Tretë | 1st | 14 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 84 | 4 | 40 | — | — | — | — | |
| 2022–23 | Kategoria e Dytë | 2nd | 22 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 64 | 12 | 58 | — | — | — | — | |
| 2023–24 | Kategoria e Parë | 1st | 33 | 24 | 7 | 2 | 76 | 32 | 79 | R16 | — | — | — | |
| 2024–25 | Kategoria Superiore | 5th | 36 | 11 | 17 | 8 | 40 | 38 | 50 | QF | — | — | — | |
| 2025–26 | Kategoria Superiore | SF | — | — | — | |||||||||
European competitions record
| Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA competitions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Season | Competition | Round | Country | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|
Stadium

The club plays its home games at the Elbasan Arena, which was originally built in 1967 and named the Labinot Stadium after the club's name at the time, which was Labinot Elbasan. The stadium was previously called Ruzhdi Bizhuta, after one of the club's most famous players. In January 2014 it was announced that the stadium would take over from the Qemal Stafa Stadium as the home of the Albania national team until Qemal Stafa is reconstructed. Prime minister Edi Rama visited the stadium on 28 January 2014 and he confirmed that work on the stadium would begin shortly, in order for Albania to be able to play their home games in the country as no other stadiums met the minimum requirements for Euro 2016 qualifiers.[5][6][7] Works on the stadium began in February, and they were completed in time for Albania's opening qualifying fixture against Denmark in October 2014.[8] The overall reconstruction costs amounted to €5.5 million, which included works being completed on everything from the parking lot to the installation of new floodlights, and the stadium now has an official seated capacity of 12,800.[9][10][11]
Players
Current squad
- As of 31 January 2026
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Staff
| Name | Position |
|---|---|
| Head Coach | |
| Assistant Coach | |
| Goalkeeping Coach | |
| Fitness coach | |
| Video Analyst | |
| Video Analyst | |
| Physio | |
| Physio | |
| Physio | |
| Doctor | |
| Sports Director | |
| Administrator | |
| Team Manager | |
| Marketing Director |
List of managers
Gentian Stojku (2 Aug 2021–11 Apr 2023)
Eriol Merxha (12 Apr 2023 – 6 Jun 2023)
Nevil Dede (7 Jun 2023– 1 Jul 2024)
Roberto Bordin (8 Jul 2024– 5 Dec 2024)
Ivan Gvozdenović (5 Dec 2024– )