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Croatia will be one of Albania's opponents in Group B of the European Championship in Germany. On June 19, the Reds and Blacks will challenge the Balkan national team for the first time in history. In general, the Albanian state has had good relations with the Croatian state over the years, but also in football, there have been many Croatian footballers who have played in Albania, or even the opposite.
For many Albanian players, the Croatian championship has served as a springboard to jump into a more elite championship or a better-known team. Since the 90s, players such as Eduard Abazi, Edmond Dosti, Ylli Shehu, Besnik Prenga, Ardian Aliaj or later Erjon Bogdani have started moving from Albania to Croatia.
Furthermore, all the football players mentioned have been transferred to another championship, where, most notably, Bogdani from NK Zagreb to Rexhina or Aliaj from Hajduk Split to Standard Liège in Belgium.
Last years
But not only them, as in recent years there have been many Albanian players who have distinguished themselves in the Croatian championship and who have been sold to well-known clubs. It is enough to take a few examples, with Odise Roshin or Bekim Balajn, who both moved from Rijeka to Terek Grozny in Russia in 2016. Roshi was sold for 500 thousand euros, while Balaj for 2 million. The transfer of Ardian Ismajli from Hajduku to Specia in Italy for the figure of 2.2 million euros was sensational.
Meanwhile, Amir Rrahmani, who has also been declared champion of Series A, after Partizan in Superiore, played for three seasons in Croatia, where in 2019 he was sold by Dinamo Zagreb to Verona for 2.1 million euros. They don't end there, Sokol Cikalleshi also gave 1.8 million euros to RNK Split, after moving to Bashakshehiri in 2015. Myrto Uzuni was also sold for the same price, after he excelled with Lokomotiva Zagreb. The striker signed for Ferencvaros in Hungary in 2020. Eros Grezda managed to convince Rangers to spend 2 million euros in 2018, when the former national team player was playing for Osijek.
Also before that, Emiljano Vila moved from Dinamo Zagreb to Pas Janina in Greece, while Endri Çekiçi from the same team was transferred to Olimpija Ljubljana for 200,000 euros. The defender of Tirana, Albi Doka, was sold from Gorica to Honved in Hungary. Meanwhile, in September 2022, Panathinaikos paid 1 million euros to Lokomotiva Zagreb for the services of Enis Çokaj.
The midfielder is still part of the Greek club. The last two sales from the Croatian championship of Albanian footballers are: Indrit Tuci from Lokomotiva Zagrebizt to Sparta Prague for 1 million euros a week ago and Jorgo Pëllumbi from Varazhdin to Debreceni for 115 thousand euros./Panorama Sport
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