KF Shkëndija

SFRY Period

The original senior Shkëndija team

KF Shkëndija was formed on 27 August 1979 by ethnic Albanians from Tetovo.^[1][2] The purpose of forming the club was so that the Albanians throughout Yugoslavia could unite in supporting a club for Albanians. FK Shkëndija was frowned upon by Yugoslav officials as it was thought the club would awaken nationalist feeling among the Albanians of Yugoslavia. Starting at the lowest division in Yugoslavia, Shkëndija won the division in the 1979–1980 season, resulting in Shkëndija being promoted into the Third division.^[3] After claiming the third division title in the 1980–1981 season, Shkëndija was then again promoted into the Second division. However, as the popularity of the club began to increase among the Albanian population of Yugoslavia, the ruling communist government members disbanded the club, worried that the club would start a nationalistic revival in Yugoslavia.^[3]

Re-establishment

After Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia, KF Shkëndija was re-established into the Macedonian Football League. It started at the Fourth division, eventually being promoted each season to the third, second and finally, to the First division.^[3] In the 2010–11 season of the First Macedonian Football League the club won its first major championship with an unbeaten run of 16 games.^[4] On 20 May 2012, Shkëndija handed FK Vardar its first loss of the season with a 1–0 victory.^[5]

The Ecolog era

During the 2012–13 season, Shkëndija was embroiled in financial difficulties and as a result, many of its players left the club earlier in the summer. The Shkëndija supporters, the Ballistët, began a social media campaign requesting Ecolog to take over Shkëndija.^[6] Albanian international, Lorik Cana and Swiss international, Xherdan Shaqiri also joined the campaign with the supporters.^[6] On 31 July 2013, Lazim Destani, father of Ecolog founder and chairman, Nazif Destani, announced Ecolog International will take charge of Shkëndija.^[6][7] Under the new administration, Shkëndija bought in over five new players to the squad, four days before the transfer season ended, as well as balancing the financial state of the club. The new season started averagely for Shkëndija, amassing five draws in a row. However, on 21 September 2013, Shkëndija comfortably defeated rivals FK Vardar in a 3–1 home game during the derby, displaying improvement of the club under Ecolog. However, for the next eight fixtures, Shkëndija were very inconsistent, drawing once, winning three and losing four. After losing 5–0 to FK Rabotnički, manager Gjore Jovanovski was relieved of his duties. Shpëtim Duro was named the manager Shkëndija just 15 hours after the sacking of Jovanovski. He was first hired as a temporary caretaker manager for the club's the remaining 3 games before the long winter break, but signed a contract with the club to be the manager for the remainder of the 2013–14 season.^[8][9]

During the winter break, Shkëndija was the most active team in the Prva Liga during the transfer period, bringing in 9 new players, further revamping the football club in preparation for the second half of the season. The second half of the season saw drastic improvement for Shkëndija under Shpëtim Duro, moving them from 8th position near the relegation zone, to 4th position at the end of the season, winning their final seven games in a row.^[10] Shkendija earned a spot in the 2014–15 first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.

Shkëndija in Europe

Accurate as of 24 August 2018

Overview

Matches

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2011–12	UEFA Champions League	2QR	Partizan	0–1	0–4	0–5
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	1QR	Portadown	0–0	1–2	1–2
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	1QR	Zimbru	2–1	0–2	2–3
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1QR	Aberdeen	1–1	0–0	1–1(a)
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1QR	Cracovia	2–0	2–1	4–1
		2QR	Neftçi	1–0	0–0	1–0
		3QR	Mladá Boleslav	2–0	0–1	2–1
		PO	Gent	0–4	1–2	1–6
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	1QR	Dacia Chișinău	3–0	4–0	7–0
		2QR	HJK	3–1	1–1	4–2
		3QR	Trakai	3–0	1–2	4–2
		PO	Milan	0–1	0–6	0–7
2018–19	UEFA Champions League	1QR	The New Saints	5–0	0−4	5–4
		2QR	Sheriff Tiraspol	1–0	0–0	1–0
		3QR	Red Bull Salzburg	0−1	0−3	0–4
	UEFA Europa League	PO	Rosenborg	0−2	1−3	1–5

Notes

• 1QR: First qualifying round
• 2QR: Second qualifying round
• 3QR: Third qualifying round
• PO: Play-off round

UEFA club coefficient ranking

As of 18.09.2018, Source:

Rank	Team	Points
159	Kardemir Karabükspor	6.200
160	Bursaspor	6.200
161	KF Shkëndija	6.000
162	The New Saints	6.000
163	Žalgiris Vilnius	6.000

Top goalscorers in Europe

As of 24.07.2018, Source: kfshkendija.com

Current squad

As of 1 September 2018

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Kostadin Zahov 3 DF Gledi Mici 4 DF Egzon Bejtullai 5 MF Armend Alimi (captain) 6 DF Visar Musliu 7 FW Besart Ibraimi 8 MF Ennur Totre 9 FW Remzifaik Selmani 11 FW Shefit Shefiti 14 MF Marjan Radeski 15 DF Leard Sadriu 16 DF Mevlan Murati 17 MF Arbin Zejnullai

No. Position Player 18 MF Stênio Júnior 19 MF Besmir Bojku 20 FW Izair Emini 24 MF Florent Ramadani 27 MF Shqiprim Taipi 28 MF Omar Imeri 29 DF Konstantin Cheshmedjiev 30 GK Saladin Mustafi 33 DF Mevlan Adili 34 MF Valmir Nafiu 40 GK Bekim Rexhepi 88 FW Ensar Luma 99 FW Samir Fazli

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 12 GK Artan Ilazi (on loan at Gostivar) 23 DF Arlind Aliti (on loan at Vëllazërimi 77) 77 DF Blagoja Todorovski (on loan at Rabotnichki) 99 FW Bashkim Lama (on loan at Teteks)

No. Position Player — MF Ersin Fetahi (on loan at Gostivar) — MF Shpend Asani (on loan at Vëllazërimi 77) — FW Ilaz Çilafi (on loan at Struga)

Current technical staff

As of 30 june 2018

Management