Albania's record against Group A opponents
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
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Albania may be EURO debutants but they have racked up 18 previous competitive meetings against Group A opponents France, Romania and Switzerland – they are yet to win.
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Qualifying: Group I runners-up
Top scorer: Bekim Balaj, Shkelzen Gashi, Ermir Lenjani, Mërgim Mavraj, Armando Sadiku, Berat Xhimshiti (1 goal)
Qualifying record: P8 W4 D2 L2 F10 A5 Pts14
EURO best: never qualified
Last EURO: N/A
EURO appearances: 0
Albania v Switzerland (15.00CET, 11 June, Lens)
EURO P2 W0 D1 L1 F3 A4
World Cup P4 W0 D0 L4 F1 A7
Friendlies P0 W0 D0 L0 F0 A0
- Switzerland are unbeaten in their six internationals against Albania, winning five. The teams' most recent encounters took place in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying, Gianni De Biasi's Albania losing 2-0 in Lucerne and 2-1 in Tirana. Xherdan Shaqiri, who has Albanian roots, scored for Switzerland in both matches.
- Several current Albanian internationals play for Swiss clubs, including three apiece at champions Basel (Shkëlzen Gashi, Taulant Xhaka and Naser Aliji) and FC Zürich (Berat Djimsiti, Burim Kukeli and Armando Sadiku).
- Switzerland-born Taulant Xhaka has opted to represent Albania at international level; younger brother Granit plays for Switzerland.
Albania v France (21.00CET, 15 June, Marseille)
EURO P4 W0 D0 L4 F1 A11
World Cup P0 W0 D0 L0 F0 A0
Friendlies P2 W1 D1 L0 F2 A1
- Albania got the better of France in the two centralised friendlies played in conjunction with the UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying competition. They drew the first encounter 1-1 in Rennes before winning 1-0 at home in Elbasan thanks to a goal from Ergys Kaçe.
- France had won the four previous meetings – all UEFA European Championship qualifiers – with a goal difference of 11 for and one against.
- Les Bleus' biggest victory in that sequence was a 5-0 success at the Parc des Princes in EURO '92 qualifying, with Franck Sauzée and Jean-Pierre Papin both scoring twice.
- Albania's record cap holder Lorik Cana plays his club football in France at Nantes alongside international colleague Ermir Lenjani.
Albania v Romania (21.00CET, 19 June, Lens)
EURO P6 W0 D2 L4 F4 A16
World Cup P2 W0 D0 L2 F1 A6
Friendlies P9 W2 D2 L5 F5 A20
- Romania are Albania's most frequent opponents having faced them on 16 occasions.
- Albania are yet to beat Romania in eight competitive fixtures. Romania won the first six until qualifying for UEFA EURO 2012, when the teams twice drew 1-1.
- Experienced Romania left-back Răzvan Raţ scored the only goal when the teams last met, in Yverdon, Switzerland in a friendly in May 2014.
