Albania Euro 2028 Tickets

Few outside of the country would've expected Albania to earn automatic qualification for Euro 2024, and even fewer believed they would top their group above the likes of Czech Republic and Poland. Against the odds, Albania qualified for the Euro finals in Germany thanks to some impressive performances in qualifying.

Sylvinho was appointed head coach of the Albania national football team at the beginning of 2023 and the former FC Barcelona and Brazil left-back guided the central European nation to a successful qualifying campaign.

Albania lost just a solitary qualifying game, winning four and drawing three, despite being significantly lower ranked than both Czechia and Poland. Albania kept a tight defence and didn't concede more than once in any of their eight matches, keeping four clean sheets.

One Point at Euro 2024

Albania arrived at Euro 2024 as the second-lowest ranked team in the tournament, placed in arguably the toughest group alongside Italy, Croatia and Spain. Few gave them a chance of troubling any of the three, yet within 23 seconds of their opening game against Italy in Dortmund, Nedim Bajrami had scored what became the fastest goal in European Championship history. Italy recovered to win 2-1, but Albania had already set the tone for a tournament that would repeatedly exceed expectations.

Against Croatia in their second match, they rallied from behind to draw 2-2 with a Klaus Gjasula equaliser deep into stoppage time, keeping their qualification hopes alive until the final group game. A narrow 1-0 defeat to Spain, who had already secured top spot and rested key players, ended their run, leaving them bottom of the group with a single point.

On paper, P3 W0 D1 L2 was a modest return. In practice, Albania were one of the stories of the group stage: courageous, high-energy and backed by extraordinary support from the Albanian diaspora that often outnumbered their more fancied opponents in the stands.

Albania National Team History

Despite a population less than one-third of neighbouring Greece's 10 million, Albania continues to prove that even Europe's smallest nations can compete with their larger counterparts on the global stage.

The Albania national football team hasn't previously achieved anything in terms of silverware, but those currently involved with the Red and Blacks are determined to write history in the near future.

Debut at Euro 2016

After years of failing to qualify for the UEFA European Championship, Albania finally introduced itself to football fans across the globe at the 2016 tournament hosted by France.

Prior to this, Albania had never come close to reaching the finals and would typically salvage a win or maybe two from their 8+ qualifiers.

Albania lost their group opener against Switzerland before conceding two late goals against hosts France. Albania fulfilled their group campaign with a 1-0 victory over Romania, but it wasn't enough for the Red and Blacks to progress to the knockout phase.

No Show in 2020

Albania didn't manage to secure their spot at back-to-back Euro events, nor did they reach the play-offs for Euro 2020.

They did, however, win four of their 10 qualifying matches which was still more than in most previous attempts.